Sunnydale: Secrets Better Left Untold
by Alkaline2k2
Summary: Sequal to Sunnydale: A New Beginning. The new Scooby Gang enters their Sophomore year of both High School and slaying and they have to deal with secrets that lead to a few interesting revelations. *Update: Anonymous Reviews Enabled!*
1. Sophomore Slump

Disclaimer:        Any character that you've seen on the show is owned by Joss, not me.

Continuity Note:           This story takes place six months after the conclusion to Sunnydale: A New Beginning. You should definitely read that story before you read this one.

Colleen

The new slayer

Jordan

Psychic who receives The Visions

Holly

Half Sellar Demon

Dawn

The Key

Aaron

Currently exploring magicks

*****

            "Sophomore year," Aaron said as he and Dawn walked together on their way to their first day of school. "This is going to be great."

            "How so?" Dawn asked him.

            "Well first of all we're not freshmen anymore," Aaron told her. "No longer do we have to fear the torment of seniors on 'Pick on Freshmen Day.'" As Aaron was talking to Dawn they were just arriving on campus. Aaron spotted two seniors and gave them a friendly nod.

            "What are you looking at loser?" The seniors asked as they walked away.

            "Did you see that?" Aaron asked Dawn.

            "You mean your public humiliation?" Dawn asked him in return.

            "No," Aaron said shaking his head. "Did you see the way that they didn't even think about knocking my books out of my hands or stealing my backpack?"

            "You don't have any books," Dawn pointed out.

            "That's a minor point," Aaron told her.

*****

**First Period**

            "So how much Spanish do you know?" Colleen asked Jordan as they took their seats in their Spanish II class.

            "That depends," Jordan said. "Do you mean how much Spanish do I actually know or how much Spanish can I sponge off of the teacher?"

            Colleen smiled. "Do you do that?" Colleen said. "Isn't that telepathic cheating?"

            "No," Jordan admitted, "I'm too much of a wuss to actually cheat." He paused for a moment. "But if the teacher is thinking about the answer just a little too hard sometimes I can't help but sponge off of her."

            "Well if you ever think of it don't hesitate to pass on the spongy goodness," Colleen said.

*****

            "Remind me again why we took Honors American History?" Aaron asked Dawn.

            "Because it'll look good on a college application," Dawn told him.

            "And?" Aaron asked.

            "And because we're nerds," Dawn admitted with a smile.

            "OK," Aaron said. "Just as long as we aren't trying to kid ourselves."

*****

**Second Period**

            Holly went to the back of the room without even a second thought. She tried not to make eye contact with anyone along the way. She kept her eyes on the ground in front of her and didn't look up till she was in the back corner of the room. Once there she swung off her backpack and sat in her desk as low as she could. She unzipped her backpack and took out her copy of The Fountainhead and hoped that no one would take notice of her.

            Holly hated the annoyingly intrusive school guidance counselor. She always seemed to have to talk to her at least once a month. Teachers worried that just because she wasn't exactly in any extracurricular activities that she must have been suicidal. If the guidance counselor wouldn't have paid so much attention to her she wouldn't have noticed Holly's impressive standardized test scores. Impressive in English that is. Holly wasn't very good at math or science, but she was great at English.

            Holly loved to read. She had been reading from an extremely young age. Her vocabulary would impress a lot of people if she actually bothered to talk. She was resolved not to talk though. If she had to be stuck in Honors English, she wasn't going to leave herself open to further attack by causing any more attention to herself.

            "This seat isn't taken," Jordan said to Holly as he sat down next to her, "is it?"

            Holly didn't have time to answer him. Before she knew what was going on Dawn has taken the seat in front of her and Aaron sat down next to Dawn.

            "Excellent classroom positioning Holly," Aaron said with a smile. "Back corners are good. I usually go towards the middle of the back though, but still this is an excellent position."

            Over the summer Holly realized that these people were not going to give up until she was their friend. She knew that she could never let that happen. No one could ever get close to her, she wouldn't allow the risk. However, the more time she spent with them the more her barriers were starting to breakdown. What was the harm in just talking to them during school?

            Holly smiled.

*****

**Third Period**

            "She's coming around," Dawn said. Third period for her, Aaron, and Jordan was gym for the first semester. They sat on the bleachers enjoying the fact that the first week of gym always just consisted of sitting around and doing nothing.

            "Slowly but surely," Aaron added. Aaron was probably the least gung-ho about trying to add Holly to the group. He wanted her to be their friend, there was no doubt about that, but the others were just more adamant about it.

            "I wonder why she doesn't want to let us in," Dawn said.

            "She's hiding something," Jordan said. "I don't know what it is but there is definitely something she doesn't want us to know." The others agreed with him.

            "That's not too unlikely," Aaron pointed out. "You know, considering she's half demon."

            "But we already know that," Jordan said. "I mean, I'm part demon too. I think that we could accept whatever it is that she doesn't want us to know."

            Dawn didn't say it out loud, but she knew what it was like to have a secret about what you are that you weren't eager to let the world know.

*****

            Colleen met Mike outside of the Driver's Ed room. It was the first class that they had together of the day. Mike gave her a soft kiss of the lips.

            "Let me grab those," Mike said taking Colleen's backpack, "It's the gentlemanly thing to do."

            "Thanks," Colleen said, "The weight of that backpack was killing me."

            Mike smiled. "I'm comfortable with you being stronger than I'll ever be in my life as long as you don't go throwing it in my face like that."

            Colleen and Mike sat next to each other about three rows from the front of the room. They talked a little bit about how their first days were going. Colleen looked up and saw Holly walk into the room. She smiled and tried to get her attention to come sit next to her. Holly saw her but then quickly went to the back of the room to sit. Colleen frowned. She hoped that the others had had better luck.

*****

**Fourth Period**

            "Am I under surveillance?" Holly asked Dawn when she made her sit next to her in French Class.

            "No," Dawn said. "You're my only friend in this class."

            "I was just making sure," Holly told her. It was still a little weird for her but she was starting to like this.

*****

            Mike had walked Colleen to her fourth period English class like a gentleman, but now he had to run to get to his Algebra II class on time. The bell rang about thirty seconds before he got to his class. Since it was the first day back from summer break the teacher didn't say anything to him. He looked around the room and took the only seat that was open.

            "Hey," Jordan said to Mike. Mike looked next to him and didn't even realize that Jordan was there.

            "Oh hey," Mike said. "What's up? How's your first day going?"

            "Pretty good," Jordan told him. "How's yours going?"

            "Good," Mike told him and then added "It got better when I realized that the kid sitting next to me is psychic. Any chance that you might be able to pop some answers in my head?"

            Jordan laughed. "Is that all anyone thinks of me?"

*****

**Fifth Period**

            "How can you eat that stuff?" Holly asked Jordan as he sat down at her table at lunch right next to Dawn. Holly and Dawn had both packed their lunches.

            "Well I'm too lazy to pack a lunch before school," Jordan told them, "And I also happen to like school lunch."

            "You also happen to be taste-blind," Dawn told him.

            "Taste-blind?" Jordan repeated. "Yeah I guess that might be a word somewhere."

            Holly laughed.

            "Can I see your schedule?" Jordan asked Holly. She nodded and handed it to him. "Hey," Jordan said, "You have the exact same classes as me for the rest of the day."

            "That's good," Holly told him, "I need help with Chemistry."

            "Don't worry," Jordan said, "We have Dawn to help us there. She has the same class too"

            "You're not in advanced?" Holly asked her.

            Dawn shook her head. "It's the same time as the only French class I could fit on my schedule."

            "Besides," Jordan said. "Advanced is for suckers."

*****

**Sixth Period**

            "So," Aaron said as he and Colleen held their trays while standing in the middle of the crowded cafeteria looking around, "Where is your boytoy? I'm hungry."

            Colleen scanned the cafeteria over twice before she finally spotted Mike. He saw her and waved to her. "Over there," Colleen said as she pointed towards Mike.

            "OK," Aaron said as they started walking towards him. "But I promise you that if lunchtime ever turns into 'make-out-time' I will not hesitate to throw up on your tray."

            "Threat noted," Colleen told him.

            "Maybe you didn't hear me," Aaron said. "That wasn't a threat. It's a promise."

*****

**Ninth Period**

            "What are the odds?" Aaron said as he, Dawn, Jordan, Holly, Colleen, and Mike all sat at the same long table in the library for study hall.

            "This could be good," Colleen said. "In case there's any evil that can't wait that extra forty minutes until school's over we are all right here. No wasting time gathering everybody up.

            Holly sat furthest from Mike. He knew about her powers now. He knew that she was the "Gold Chick." Holly never talked to Mike on those rare occasions that he was with Colleen when she was doing her slayer duties. She wondered how much that Mike remembered. She worried that maybe he would tell Colleen everything. She prayed that Mike didn't know the truth.

            From across the table, Jordan gave Holly a concerned look.

*****

            "Hopefully we'll be able to get all of our patrolling in before 10:00 now that we have school again," Colleen told Holly while they were on patrol. "If not I guess I'll just have to sneak out of my house."

            "I could cover," Holly said, "My mom works night shift."

            "Oh yeah," Colleen said. "I forgot. You're mom's a police officer right?"

            Holly nodded. There was a stretch of silence. Colleen and Holly had been patrolling together for a while but still there wasn't much conversation going on between them. What little talking that was talking place was being pushed by Colleen.

            "So how did your first day go?" Colleen tried.

            "It was good," Holly said. There was a pause. "Yours?" Holly asked.

            Colleen smiled. She talked about her day for a while and every so often Holly would add a comment. Colleen couldn't believe it. It was a real conversation. The conversation was interrupted though by Colleen's cell phone ringing.

            "Hello?" Colleen said as she answered her phone. Her face quickly shifted into concern. "Where? OK we're on our way." She hung up the phone. "Come on," she said to Holly.

            "What's going on?" Holly asked Colleen as she ran to catch up. Holly wasn't in her demon form which meant that Colleen was faster than her. They were too close to where people might see them and Holly didn't want to risk being spotted with her gold skin.

            "Trouble," was all Colleen said. She didn't give Holly a chance to ask any more questions. They ran and before Holly knew what was going on they were in the Bronze.

            "What's going on?" Holly asked. "Vampires?"

            "No," Colleen said with a smile. "It's that you don't come with us to the Bronze any other way other than if we trick you."

            "What," Holly said. She began to say a few words but all that came out were a few syllables.

            "Don't worry," Colleen said as she basically pushed Holly towards a table where Jordan, Dawn, and Aaron were waiting with smiles on their faces. "There haven't been any vampires for a week. We already swept through the cemeteries and I have an hour before I have to be home so we're going to have some 'Back-to-school' fun."

            Holly reluctantly sat down at the table. When the others first tried to be her friend they had all come on really strong. Now it was more like they considered her their friend no matter what she said and they talked to her just like a friend. Again Holly couldn't help but feel happy, even though she knew in the back of her mind that she shouldn't.

            "Oh great," Colleen said as her slayer sense pointed out the two vampires that were leading two girls out of the club. "I knew I shouldn't have lied and said there was trouble. See, this is what I get for lying." Colleen grabbed two stakes out her bag and threw one to Holly. "Come on," Colleen told her, "This won't take long."

            "I'll come be back up," Jordan said. "I was going to go get a Pepsi anyway."

            Aaron and Dawn watched as they walked out the door. Aaron looked back to Dawn and began to talk to her again. He wanted to ask her to dance. When he was faced with death earlier that year he had come to terms with how he felt about Dawn. He wrote it all down and gave it to her in a letter, but when he didn't die he took the letter back. He wanted to tell her how he felt, but he wasn't going to do it that night. Even if he wanted to, he wouldn't have gotten the chance, because before either one of them noticed they were knocked out by several vampires that surrounded their table and taken out the door right behind their table. In the crowded chaos of the Bronze, nobody noticed.

            "That was easy enough," Colleen said as the other three got back to the table.

            "Where did they go?" Holly wondered.

            Jordan shrugged. "Beats me."

*****

            When Aaron woke back up he wished that he could just go back to sleep. He couldn't though because the vampire that woke him up slapped him hard again when he closed his eyes.

            "No you don't warlock," the vampire told him. "There will be plenty of time to sleep when you're dead. First though, you need to do us a favor."

            Aaron woke up a little more. He realized that he was in the school library. "And what would that be?"

            "You're going to bring back our master," the vampire told him. "Phoenix."

            "And why am I going to do that?" Aaron asked trying hard to not sound terrified.

            "Because if you don't we kill her," the vampire said as he pointed to where Dawn lay bound and gagged but still unconscious on the floor.

            "I see," Aaron said.

*****

            "I can't believe they would just ditch us like that," Colleen said as they were getting ready to leave.

            "That's not like them at all," Jordan said. The three of them walked out of the Bronze and took a few steps onto the road.

            Colleen stopped dead in her tracks. "That isn't like them at all. Try their cell phones again."

            Jordan nodded and tried both numbers. They rang and rang but he never got an answer. He looked up and shook his head. Holly started to look a little worried. Colleen had no clue what to do. Jordan looked worried for a second but then his expression changed into something more familiar. He received a vision.

*****

            In Aaron's mind he had three options. He could outright refuse to do the spell and that way both he and Dawn would be killed. He could do the spell, oh wait no he couldn't because he didn't have any idea how to do it. Aaron knew some magicks but no where near enough to just bring back a demon like Phoenix. The only way out of this was to stall for time till some other option presented itself.

            "OK," Aaron said. "I'll do your spell."

            The vampire who Aaron was guessing was in charged nodded to another vampire who gave Aaron a bag of supplies. Aaron dumped it out and took stock of what he had to work with. He sat cross-legged on the ground and tried to take up as much time as possible while still looking believable. At no other point in his life was Aaron that glad to have taken Latin instead of Spanish. After a while the vampires began to become restless with Aaron's chanting and random mixing of dusts and sands.

            "Hurry up," the lead vampire said. There were only four vampires all together. Aaron suddenly had an idea on how to make the odds a little bit better.

            "It's ready," Aaron told them. "I just need you to breathe it in," Aaron said to the leader.

            "What?" the vampire questioned him.

            "You know," Aaron said, "Phoenix needs a host, like Martyr."

            There was a silence as the vampire thought this over that made Aaron want to piss his pants. He tried not to break eye contact. He needed the vampire to believe him. Dawn's life was on the line.

            "Alright," the vampire said after what seemed like an eternity, "Cortez." The vampire who Aaron was assuming was Cortez stepped forward. Aaron swore in his mind. He thought that maybe if he took out the leader than they had a chance.

            "OK then," Aaron said nervously. He took a handful of his powder and blew it out of his shaking hand into the vampires face. Luckily, it provided the light effect that Aaron was hoping it would. Unfortunately, that's about all the magic that the powder could do.

            "Now what," the leader asked.

            "Well now you have to stake him," Aaron said. There was another eternal pause. Aaron prayed that he wasn't about to get both of them killed.

            "You better hope that you did this right," the leader told him. He walked over to a chair and broke the leg off. He walked over to the vampire who Aaron had blown the dust on. It looked slightly nervous. After a pause the leader shoved the stake into the vampire's heart. At first the vampire burst into flames, but then the only thing that was left was dust.

            The leader was outraged. He ran to Aaron and hit him with the stake so hard that he was knocked across the room. The leaders picked him up and punched him in the face several times until he finally threw him on the ground. He began to walk towards Dawn.

            "Wait!" Aaron said as he spit the blood out of his mouth. "Wait. I think I know what I did wrong."

            "Lies!" The leader said as he picked the now awake Dawn up. She looked terrified.

            "Didn't you see the flames?" Aaron said extremely thankful that he had managed to put the right ingredients into the powder for that result. The leader hesitated. "I might know what I did wrong. Let me try again."

            The leader seemed to think it over. "It's too late." He brought his mouth to Dawn's throat.

            "Kill her and you'll never get him back!" Aaron screamed. He was panicked now. No matter what happened he didn't want Dawn to get hurt.

            The leader paused again. This time he let Dawn fall to the ground. "You have one last chance," the leader told him. "But this time you are performing the spell on her."

            Aaron was terrified but he knew that he couldn't let them know it. He walked back over to his supplies. He worked with the powder adding bits and pieces of things into it. He was in over his head. The only things Aaron could really do well were things like charms, jinxes, glamours…

            Aaron paused. He never thought that this plan would work but right now it was the only option that he had. He added a few more ingredients into the concoction that neutralized it into nothing more than foul smelling powder.

            "Untie her," Aaron said as he approached Dawn with a handful of the dust. The vampires untied her and she stood in front of him. She still looked terrified and Aaron mouthed "trust me" silently to her. Dawn nodded slightly. Aaron wished that he trusted himself.

            "I call upon the spirit of Puck. Let that is unreal become seen," Aaron chanted quietly and then blew the dust onto Dawn. Dawn coughed a little as she began to morph into the shape of Phoenix.

            "Master!" the lead vampire said. Phoenix looked at him with a confused stare and when he walked towards her he backed up slightly. "Master! You're disoriented."

            Dawn took a while to catch on to what was happening. Even though she looked like herself through her own eyes she realized that Aaron had cast a glamour on her.

            "Yea," Dawn said slowly, trying to make her voice sound deep. "I see now. I understand." Phoenix never really talked that much. Dawn hoped that that was close enough to how he sounded.

            "Master we have been loyal to you," the leader said to Dawn. "Would you like us to kill the boy who killed you?"

            "NO!" Dawn said a little too quickly. The vampire gave her a strange look. "I could make use of his magicks."

            "But master," the leader said again. "He has killed you once. It is too much of a risk to keep him around."

            "Are you questioning my word?" Dawn said to him.

            "As a matter of fact I am," the vampire said. Aaron flinched. He hoped that maybe the vampire was stupid enough to fall for his trick. This vampire could definitely tell that something was up. "Maybe you should kill him yourself Phoenix. To prove that you have regained your strength."

            Dawn paused for a moment. "Very well," she said as she walked slowly closer to Aaron and pushed him back a little, slightly nodding to the door. "On three. One. Two. Three!"

            Aaron and a now very Dawn looking Dawn ran towards the door. They had just gotten through the doors when the three vampires were less than three feet behind them. When they tried to open the doors to follow them though they found that the doors couldn't be open. They stepped back and looked at the doors questioningly when suddenly the doors swung open and hit them in the face. Colleen and Holly, in her demon form, came into the room and made short work of the three vampires.

            "What the Hell took you so long!" Aaron shouted as he walked back into the library.

*****

Author's Note: Like I said, this takes place six months after the last chapter of Sunnydale: A New Beginning. I'm sorry it took so long for me to post this. I know I said that I would have the sequel posted by the end of the week but that really didn't work out. Anyway, think of this as the second season of Sunnydale. And like any good second season we have a new character added to the opening credits. That's what that little chart is by the way, the opening credits. I hope you like my latest installment of my Sunnydale series. Please leave feedback, whether it's positive or negative. Tell me what you think of characters and relationships. One last thing, this season is definitely going to be great. I think it's going to be better than the last one. It's not called "Secrets Better Left Untold" for nothing. Thanks for reading and check back for updates.


	2. Like Mother

Disclaimer:        Any character that you've seen on the show is owned by Joss, not me.

Colleen

The new slayer

Jordan

Psychic who receives The Visions

Holly

Half Sellar Demon

Dawn

The Key

Aaron

Currently exploring magicks

*****

            "OK," Aaron said to Colleen as they walked through the graveyard on patrol, "If you had to be stranded with either Oprah or Carrot Top on a desert island who would you pick?"

            "What's wrong with Oprah?" Colleen asked.

            "Bitch thinks she knows everything," Aaron answered.

            "I see," Colleen said. "Well in that case I'm going to have to go with Oprah."

            "No way," Aaron said. "It would have to be Carrot Top."

            "You would want to kill him after five seconds," Colleen told him.

            "He could invent something to get us off of the island," Aaron told her.

            As they were walking Colleen spotted a fresh grave a few plots ahead of them. While she looked at it she felt the familiar tinge in her spine that she always felt when there were vampires nearby. As she watched a hand shot up through the loose dirt.

            "Oh!" Aaron said as he noticed the hand. "Let me do it! I've wanted to try beheading for a while now." Aaron held out the small battle axe that he carried at his side.

            "Go ahead," Colleen told him. "Knock yourself out."

            Aaron excitedly hurried behind the grave and waited as the vampire pulled himself out. Gripping the axe handle with both hands he waited for just the right moment. He took a deep breath and swung the axe at the spot where the vampire's neck used to be. The vampire sensed the attack and tumbled out of his grave and then quickly stood facing Aaron in game face. Aaron tried to go for the neck again but this time the vampire grabbed the handle and pulled it from Aaron.

            "Colleen," Aaron said as he slowly backed up away from the vampire that now held his axe. "A little help would be cool."

            "I thought you said that you wanted to handle this," Colleen said as she pulled out a stake.

            "Extremely not funny," Aaron said as he continued to slowly back up. He flipped over backwards over a tombstone that he didn't see. As he lay on his back he watched as the vampire stood over him, smiled, and then lifted the axe high over his head. Suddenly, his expression changed to horror and he exploded into dust. Colleen caught the axe before it hit the ground.

            "Aren't you even going to say thank you," Colleen said as she offered her hand to Aaron to help him up.

            "It would give you too much satisfaction," Aaron told her as he reluctantly took her hand.

*****

            "You know what sucks," Dawn asked Jordan and Holly. "Titrations."

            Dawn, Jordan, and Holly sat in Dawn's bedroom trying to finish the lab report that was due the next day for chemistry. Jordan sat on Dawn's computer typing the report. Dawn lay down on her bed looking through their lab notes. Holly sat cross legged on the floor flipping through the chemistry book.

            "Is Colleen patrolling alone tonight?" Jordan asked Holly.

            "No," Holly told him. "She got Aaron to cover for me."

            "Cover for you means that he is holding Colleen's stakes and telling her bad jokes."

            "I wouldn't put Aaron down," Jordan told Colleen. "He did save your life a couple weeks ago."

            "I know," Dawn said. "It's just that Aaron doesn't really have any super powers besides the little bits of magick that he learned."

            "I wouldn't worry about it," Holly said. "They might come across two vamps at most tonight. Colleen can definitely handle that."

            "I think that we're just about done," Jordan said as he typed a few more words into the lab report. "We just need to type something up about safety."

            "Good," Dawn said. "I'll have Aaron read it later on tonight to make sure that we didn't make any huge mistakes."

            Jordan's hands immediately flew to his head. His eyes became white the way that they usually did whenever he got a vision.

            "Uh oh," Dawn said looking at Jordan. "This isn't good. What is it?"

            The vision was surprisingly short. It consisted of Aaron and Colleen walking through the graveyard. They didn't realize that around the corner there were two vampires waiting for them. Jordan didn't know much about the vampires beside the fact that they were a man and a woman and for some reason he got the feeling that they were very strong.

            "Two vampires are about to surprise Aaron and Colleen," Jordan told them.

            "Colleen can handle two vampires," Dawn said. "What do you think Holly?"

            Holly opened her eyes. She was still able to psychically pick up on Jordan's visions. "We should probably go," she said. "The Powers That Be wouldn't send a vision unless it was something important."

*****

            "So you and Mike," Aaron said to Colleen. "You guys are pretty serious."

            "Although this does fit into the 'none of your business category,'" Colleen told Aaron, "Yeah, we are pretty serious. Why?"

            "I don't know," Aaron said. "I was just wondering." They walked for a little bit in silence. "You guys look really happy together."

            "We are happy," Colleen said. "He makes me really happy."

            "Do I sense a but?" Aaron asked Colleen.

            Colleen sighed. "No it's not a but. Not really. It's more of a however."

            "However what?" Aaron asked.

            "However it's just weird sometimes," Colleen said. "I mean, I'm all for female empowerment and all, but sometimes it's weird that I'm this super strong demon fighter and Mike's just a regular guy."

            "He does have a mean jump shot," Aaron joked.

            Colleen laughed. "I'm seriously not complaining, but it would just be nice if sometimes…"

            "If sometimes you could just be a regular girl?" Aaron asked.

            "If Mike could be a super strong demon fighter," Colleen admitted. "If he could fight with me, if he could rescue me."

            "I'd never thought I'd here that," Aaron laughed. "Colleen wanting to play the damsel in distress."

            "That's not what I mean," Colleen said. She thought about it for a minute. "I mean, I've never been the damsel in distress, even before I had my powers. It would just be nice if he could be equals."

            "Uh oh Colleen," Aaron said. "I thought we talked this all out last year?"

            "No it's not that," Colleen said. "Like my strength doesn't even bother Mike." There was a pause. 

            "So how far have you guys gone?" Aaron said with a smile. Colleen smacked him. "Hey it's not like I couldn't just talk to any of the guys on the basketball team and find out."

"That's the complete opposite of funny," Colleen said. "Why are you asking about this anyway?"

            "Let's say in theory that I had feelings for someone," Aaron said, "Then maybe I would like to get more information about relationships and how one goes about building one."

            "So you're finally ready to admit it," Colleen said with a smile.

            "Ready to admit what?" Aaron asked.

            "Oh come on," Colleen said with a laugh. "It's not like it isn't completely obvious."

            "Obvious?" Aaron asked. "Obvious to everyone?"

            "Well I'd be surprised if Jordan didn't already know," Colleen told him. "What with being psychic and all."

            Aaron sighed. "So what do you think?"

            "I think it's great," Colleen said. "I mean, you guys are already great friends. I think you would make a really nice couple."

            "Has she ever said anything about me?" Aaron asked Colleen. "Like has she ever said anything that might make you think that she felt the same way about me?"

            "Honestly," Colleen asked.

            "Yeah," Aaron said back to her.

            "Not really," Colleen said. "Well, not at all."

            "Dishonestly?" Aaron asked Colleen.

            "She is completely hot for your body," Colleen told him. "She talks about you all the time. Almost some would say too much."

            "Thanks for the effort," Aaron told her.

            "Just because she doesn't say anything though doesn't mean that she is necessarily closed off to the idea," Colleen told him.

            "Think that's good enough for tonight?" Aaron asked Colleen.

            "Yeah," Colleen said. "I think this was a successful night."

            As soon as Colleen finished her last statement she was attacked from behind by a male vampire. He knocked her to the ground but Colleen was able to kick him off of her. He lunged at her again but she flipped him with her legs and sent him flying into a tree.

            "When will I learn to keep my mouth shut," Colleen said as she pulled out a stake from inside her jacket. She moved to stake the vampire in the heart but he moved his arm and blocked the attack. The vampire connected with a few punches to Colleen's face before he uppercut her to send her flying back. Colleen got back to her feet and matched up with the vampire once again. Every blow that she delivered was answered with another blow from the vampire. Eventually, the vampire managed to once again knock her back. As Colleen lay on the ground and the vampire approached her, Aaron managed to land a blow to the vampires head with his axe.

            "Come on," Aaron said as he ran to Colleen and tried to help her up. They got to their feet and ran as fast as Aaron could. Once Aaron couldn't run anymore they stopped and rested. "Was that a vampire?" Aaron asked between pants.

            "Yeah," Colleen said as she rested against a tree. "A really strong vampire."

            "Do you think he followed us?" Aaron asked.

            "He didn't have to," came an unfamiliar voice from behind Aaron and Colleen. They both turned to see where it came from. Aaron assumed that the woman he saw was a vampire. She looked like she could have been no older than 30. She was brunette and she had brown eyes. She looked very familiar, but Aaron couldn't place where he could have seen her before.

            "I'm looking for the slayer," the vampire said as she came closer to Colleen and Aaron. "Why am I not surprised to see you here?"

            Aaron turned to Colleen. He had never seen her like this before. Her face was white as a ghost. Her eyes looked like they could burst into tears at any second. Aaron didn't know this, but at that moment, if Colleen would have been able to think, she would have thought that this was the best and the worst moment of her entire life. But Colleen couldn't think. She couldn't feel, she couldn't even move.

            "I should have expected it," the vampire said as she punched Colleen hard in the mouth sending her flying back.

            "Colleen!" Aaron said as he ran to his friend's side. He knelt down beside her on the ground in an effort to protect her.

            "You never wanted anything that you should have wanted," the vampire said. She no longer approached them. She stood back but continued to talk to her. "You were always happy being a little tomboy. You never wanted any of the things that I could offer you. I should have known then that this was what destiny had in store for you."

            The male vampire had by this time caught up to the female vampire. He stood by her while she continued to talk.

            "Now I'm going to ask you this once, and only once," she told Colleen and Aaron. "Where is the Key?" Neither of them answered. "Answer me."

            Aaron looked at Colleen. She was still in shock. "We don't know what you're talking about," Aaron said in his best pseudo-brave voice.

            "We know that the slayer has the Key," the male vampire said. "And the bruises on my face can testify that you're friend is in fact the slayer."

            "Last chance," the female vampire told Aaron and Colleen.

            "Here's a better idea," Holly, in her demon form, said as she made her way out of the shadows and appeared in front of Aaron and Colleen. She was soon flanked by Jordan and Dawn. Jordan held a crossbow and Dawn had a cross held out in front of her. "How about you get the Hell away from them?"

            "The slayer wasn't much of a fight," the male vampire said. "Why should we back down from you?"

            "Maybe the slayer couldn't put up much of a fight against you," Holly said. "But I'm guessing that the slayer, two demons and a powerful warlock might do the trick."

            "Ahem," Dawn said from behind her cross.

            "And a mighty warrior," Holly added. Dawn nodded.

            "Fine," the female vampire said. "But we will find the Key slayer." No one noticed the eye Dawn's eyes flew open when she heard this.

            "Wait," Aaron said as the two vampires started to walk off. "Who are you?"

            "You can call me Gunner," the male vampire said.

            "And my name is Kaoryn," the female said. "But she would know me better as Karen Danvers," Kaoryn added as she walked away and pointed at Colleen.

            Everyone let that sink in for a moment. Colleen's mother was a vampire.

*****

            Dawn didn't say anything to anyone on the walk home really. Even when she and Aaron split off from the others she still didn't say anything. Aaron was her best friend and she couldn't tell him this. She felt bad that she answered his attempts at conversations with short, one word answers.

            Now Dawn stood in front of her mirror. She thought about all the trouble she caused with her sister. She thought that she caused her sister's death. All of this because she was the Key. Dawn wanted to scream. She wanted to tell everyone the truth. She wanted her mother to tell her that everything would be OK. She wanted to believe that this wasn't all happening again.

            Dawn watched as a tear rolled down her cheek.

*****

            Mike sat on his bed watching T.V. He glanced at the clock. It was getting very close to 1:00 and Colleen still hadn't called. He told himself that she just was really busy tonight and that maybe she just didn't get the chance to call him before she had to go to bed. In the back of his mind was the nagging feeling that maybe something could have happened to her. Mike's thoughts were interrupted when he heard a knocking on his window. Curiously, Mike opened up his window.

            "Hi," Mike said simply.

            "Hey," Colleen said. "Can I come in."

            "Well I'm not going to invite you," Mike told her. "You know, incase you are a vampire."

            Colleen climbed into Mike's bedroom. She stood in front of him. Colleen was a few inches shorter than Mike. Her eyes came up to his chin. She stared up into his eyes.

            "Well now that that's settled," Mike said as he leaned in and kissed her. Colleen leaned in more and pulled Mike as close to her as she possibly could. She didn't want to end the kiss but eventually Mike pulled away.

            "Is everything OK?" Mike asked Colleen. Colleen didn't answer. She walked over to the door and locked it. "Colleen," Mike said as she approached him again. "What's going on?"

            "I love you," Colleen said.

            "And I love you," Mike said. They kissed again. This time Colleen pulled him onto the bed not trying to break their kiss. Colleen began to pull up Mike's shirt.

            "Wait," Mike said. He pulled away slightly from Colleen and made sure that he looked into her eyes. "Do you know what you're doing?"

            "Yes," Colleen said.

            "I don't know what's going on Colleen," Mike told her, "And I don't want you to do anything that you'll regret, but you know that I love you-"

            "Say that again," Colleen cut him off.

            "I love you," Mike told her again. They kissed.

            "That's all that matters," Colleen told him.

*****

Author's Note: Is anybody still reading? Leave feedback if you are. Tell me what you think. It makes my ego feel good. Anyway this was a big chapter, so a review would be really cool. Even if it's negative review anyway. I want to know what anyone thinks with where I'm taking the characters.


	3. Sixteen Years in the Making

Disclaimer:        Any character that you've seen on the show is owned by Joss, not me.

Colleen

The new slayer

Jordan

Psychic who receives The Visions

Holly

Half Sellar Demon

Dawn

The Key

Aaron

Currently exploring magicks

*****

            "Are you sure," Dawn asked Jordan in ninth period study hall. Jordan nodded to her. Dawn, Jordan, Aaron, and Colleen all sat at the same table in the library. Holly was making up a test she missed from being absent a few days before. Mike left study hall to go practice basketball. He got a lot of leeway like that with the season about to start.

            "I can confirm," Colleen said. "I spotted it in Driver's Ed."

            "And I checked the internet," Jordan told Dawn.

            "You can find that out on the internet?" Colleen asked.

            "Everything is on the internet," Aaron told her.

            "So are you sure we can do it at your house?" Jordan asked Aaron.

            Aaron nodded. "Yeah, my parents are out of town."

            Colleen laughed. "Are your parents ever in town?"

            "Well," Aaron said. "My dad's work takes him all over the state. And over to the other coast a lot. And England. And some other European nations. And some in Asia. And my mom usually goes with him."

            Jordan and Colleen stared at Aaron. Dawn already knew all this.

            "What does your dad do exactly?" Jordan asked Aaron.

            "Um…" Aaron said. "He does stuff with math for his company." Everyone just kind of stared at Aaron. "Sorry! I try to pay attention when he explains it to me but it's just so boring."

            "OK it's settled then," Dawn said. "We're going to have Holly's surprise party at Aaron's house."

*****

            Holly lay on her bed reading. She had her room exactly how she wanted it. Her walls were all painted black and her floor was hardwood. Her bed was very simple and she always made sure to make it when she left for school. Her room was always clean too. She liked having everything in order. Her walls had large book shelves filled with books. This was common with a lot of people's homes, but Holly had actually read every single one of the books at least once.

            "Holly?" Holly's mom walked into Holly's bedroom. She was dressed in a police uniform. "I'm going to work."

            "OK mom," Holly said not looking up from her book.

            "If you don't like the clothes you can take them back," Holly's mom told her. "I won't be offended."

            "No," Holly lied. "I like them." Holly hated the clothes. They were the typical Abercrombie and Fitch look that Holly really wasn't into.

            "Happy birthday," Holly's mom told her as she walked out the door.

            "Thanks," Holly said as her mom left. Holly stopped reading and just kind of stared at the book for a while until she heard the front door open and shut. She walked over to her mirror on her vanity. She stared at her reflection. She shifted into her demon form and took a long hard look at herself. She stripped off her t-shirt so she was just standing there in her bra. Her gold skinned form was much more physically attractive then her human form. As a human she was pale. She had pale white skin, pale blonde hair, and pale blue eyes. As a demon she had gold skin, bright gold hair, and bright blue eyes. She knew the truth though. She knew that within the beauty of the demon there was nothing but ugliness underneath. And since the demon was always within her she had that ugliness with her always.

            She wished that she didn't have that. She wished that she could just be a normal girl and have normal friends. She had tried to hard not to let people get close to her. She knew what would happen if they ever did. She knew that they would get hurt. It was what she had always known. She was told that since she was younger. But still, deep down, she wished that Colleen and Jordan and the others could be her friends. She wished that she could just come clean with them and tell them everything, but then what would they think of her.

            Holly was broken out of her trance by the phone ringing. She came close to not answering it. Who would even call her? Then she realized that it might be Colleen. Maybe she needed her help. Holly walked across the room and answered the phone.

            "Hello," Holly answered.

*****

            "She's on her way," Colleen announced as she hung up the phone.

            "What did you tell her?" Aaron asked as he walked out of the kitchen holding a bowl of chips and a bowl of pretzels.

            "I asked if she would come with me on patrol because I thought I spotted a vampire nest last night," Colleen said. "I told her we were meeting here."

            "Is Mike going to be here for the surprise?" Aaron asked.

            Colleen nodded. "Yeah, he should be here in about five minutes."

            "Mike's coming?" Dawn asked.

            "Yeah," Colleen answered. "I figured it was OK."

            "Well yeah," Dawn said. "He's kind of an honorary member of the group. But he doesn't know about Holly's secret."

            "It's not like we're going to be talking about that tonight," Colleen said.

            Dawn flashed Jordan a look. Dawn had talked to him about the weird vibe she got from Holly about Mike. Jordan shrugged. Dawn gave a silent sigh.

*****

            Holly hurried to Aaron's apartment. She had changed into a sweats with a wife beater on underneath for when she made her change into her demon form. She took the stairs two at a time and knocked on Aaron's door.

            "Come in," Aaron said as he opened the door a crack and ushered her in.

            "Where is everyone?" Holly asked. "What's going on with the lights?" The room was pitch black.

             "SURPRISE!!!" Everyone shouted as Aaron flipped the light switch. There was a banner hanging from the ceiling that read "Happy Birthday Holly."

            "What?" Holly asked confused.

            "I can't believe you didn't tell us it was your birthday!" Colleen said to her as she gave her a hug. "Like we wouldn't find out."

            "Well um," Holly really hadn't expected this. "I mean I just didn't want you guys to make a big deal about it."

            "Well then you should have just told us about it," Jordan said as he brought out Holly's cake. He lit the sixteen candles. "Make a wish."

            Everyone gathered in a circle around Holly. She was excited. Even after she noticed that Mike was there she was excited despite herself. Maybe it made her more excited that Mike was there. She wasn't sure. She made eye contact with Mike. He held it for a second and then looked away. Holly tried to ignore the pain she felt inside. She turned down to the candles and concentrated on them. She knew what she wanted. She made her wish. All sixteen flames were extinguished.

*****

            Colleen and Dawn had gone in together on Holly's gift. They got her a new pair of leather pants because they knew she liked to fight in them. The stitching on the paints was all done in gold thread. They also gave her a white t-shirt that had the same gold stitching. At the bottom of the gift Holly found a framed picture of Colleen, Dawn, Aaron, Jordan, and herself that was taken one night after patrol. On the frame was written friends. Holly said thank you, but couldn't say what she really wanted to say. What she wanted to tell them was that this was the best gift she had ever gotten in her life.

            Holly opened Aaron and Jordan's gift next. From the small box Holly could tell that it was jewelry, something that she never wore. When she opened it she saw that it was a solid gold cross. There was a note in the box that read "For Protection."

            "Thank you guys very much," Holly said as she tried the necklace on. "This is really nice."

            "That's just half of the gift," Aaron said as he walked back into his kitchen.

            "Follow me," Jordan said as he walked after Aaron. Holly looked confused but she followed them anyway.

            "This is the rest of our present," Aaron said. "It's that we know."

            "And we don't care," Jordan added. Holly looked confused. Aaron held out an open book and showed it to her. The page was opened to a picture of a Sellar demon.

            "What?" Holly asked. She could feel her heart beating faster and faster. Her skin felt warm. She couldn't believe that this was happening.

            "We know why you don't want to be our friend," Aaron explained.

            "And we don't care," Jordan repeated. "We don't care about any of it."

            "We read about the Sellar demons," Aaron explained. "About how they feed off the energy of souls. About how every time they touch someone they feel they're weakness. How they can use people's weaknesses to control their emotions. Manipulate them. That's why you don't want to be our friend, right? That's why you said you would just hurt us?"

            Holly just stared at them blankly.

            "We don't care Holly," Jordan tried to explain. "Don't you get that? We know that you're capable of this and we're cool with it. Dawn and Colleen are cool with it too.

            Holly turned her gaze turned Jordan. They all knew. It was the moment she had feared for a long time. It was the moment she had feared since she first let the idea of becoming friends with them form in her mind.

            "How could you?" Holly asked, her voice full of emotion and about to crack into tears. Jordan and Aaron were taken aback. "How could you do this to me?"

            "Holly," Jordan tried to explain, "We were just trying to let you know that we understand-"

            "How could you understand!" Holly shouted. "How could you ever possibly understand?"

            "Holly," Aaron tried to cut in.

            "You could never understand!" Holly shouted and turned to leave the kitchen. She ran into the family room. Colleen and Dawn stood looking alarmed.

            "So you know now," Holly said to them. She was about to lose the battle with her tears. "Now you know the truth. That I'm a demon." Holly shifted into her demon form. Everyone looked shocked and turned to Mike. Surprisingly, Mike didn't look shocked. "Don't worry about him," Holly said sadly, "He knew before any of you. He's always known the truth. That's I'm a soulfeeder."

            Now everyone's shocked expressions turned towards Mike. Mike wasn't wearing his usually happy expression. His expression was uncharacteristically serious.

            "Did you tell her yet?" Holly asked Mike. "Did you tell her what happened?"

            Mike shook his head. "You know I would never do that."

            Tears slid down Holly's golden cheeks. There was a long silence.

            "So is anyone else really confused right now?" Aaron asked. Colleen gave him a glare that could have killed. "Sorry," Aaron said.

            "Just tell them Holly," Mike said. "It's not as bad as you like to believe it is."

            "How can you say that?" Holly asked Mike. "We were best friends once and now you don't even talk to me. How can you even say that it's not that bad?"

            "You stayed away from me," Mike told her. "You made the decision. I was just doing what you made me believe you wanted."

            Holly just shook her head. She looked around the room at all the concerned expressions that were facing her.

            "Give them a chance Holly," Mike told her. "Let them make up their own minds."

            Holly sat down where she stood. She shifted into her human form and wept into her hands. She felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up and saw Jordan smile at her. She stared into his eyes for a moment with the secret she had kept for so long just about to spill out. Jordan nodded towards her.

            "My father was a Sellar demon," Holly began. "I never knew him. My mom was just his victim. A Sellar demon is a type of lust demon. They cause people to become attracted to them. By touching someone, they gain insight on how to manipulate them and take advantage of them. Through touch, I can see everyone's emotional weaknesses and I learn how to take advantage of them."

            Holly paused. She looked up expecting to see everyone's outraged expressions. She only saw concern in their faces.

            "Go on," Dawn told her.

            "The Sellar demon feeds on the energy of souls," Holly continued. "Once they manipulate their victim they have sex with them. Once they are finished they are then able to feed on them. This usually ends with their victim dying. However, when he fed on my mom there was a complication. He had impregnated her. Somehow, during his experience with her, he had developed some real feelings for her which allowed him to impregnate her. When he realized that he couldn't feed off her he got really pissed off. He left her nearly dead. My mom never really got over that event.

            "My mom was seriously changed by what happened. Instead of trying to work her way up in the police force she stayed on night duty. She wanted to make sure that if there were any more Sellar demons out there that she could stop them. When she realized that she was pregnant, she began to research the dark arts. She didn't want to have an abortion incase her daughter was human, but if it was a demon she would be ready to control it."

            Holly paused again. Everyone remained silent.

            "My mom's family was very ashamed of her," Holly continued. "They are all very religious people and to this day they still don't really get along with her. When she eventually had me and saw that I was human she knew that she couldn't every hurt me. She loved me from the moment she saw me. She never showed me anything but love. However, she knew what was inside of me. She knew what I would be capable of. She used the spells she learned to protect people from me. She cast a spell on me to try to protect me from my demon heritage.

            "They didn't always work though. I was five when I first realized my demon form. My mom was completely freak. She explained to me that I had a demon inside of me and she cast a spell to turn me back into my human form. She told me that I had to control the demon inside of me. She told me that she loved me, but I could never let the demon out. She told me that I was better than the demon. I realized that that there wasn't a demon inside of me. I was the demon. I was both demon and human. My mom's spell could bring back out my human side but I was always able to go back to my demon form. My mom eventually calmed down. She even began dating. At one point she became engaged…to Mike's father."

            There was another pause.

            "This was when we were seven," Holly explained. "My mom and I moved in with Mike and his father. Mike and I were both really young but we became good friends. We became so close that I even shared with Mike the secret that only my mom and I knew. I never thought that Mike would tell my mom."

            "I was seven!" Mike said in defense of himself. "I thought you were lying. I could barely even read at that point. How was I supposed to comprehend that when I could barely even read at that point in my life?"

            "I had to comprehend that," Holly said coldly. "After that something happened between my mom and Mike's dad. They broke up. My mom kind of went back to her bad times again but she eventually came out of it. She never dated again though. That's when I swore that I would never get close to someone again. I wouldn't let me mom think that I would hurt anyone. I knew that I could never have friends again."

            Holly was still crying. She had been crying throughout the entire story.

            "I still wanted to be your friend," Mike told her. "I told you that. But you wouldn't even talk to me."

            "My mother forbade me from talking to you," Holly told Mike.

            "She also forbade you from telling anyone that you were a demon," Mike pointed out.

            "And look what happened when I first disobeyed her," Holly answered back. "I lost my best friend. I lost all of my friends."

            "If friends mean that much to you," Jordan asked Holly, "Then why do you keep pushing us away."

            "You know why," Holly said to him. "I just explained why."

            "Have you ever fed off of someone's soul?" Colleen asked Holly.

            "Of course not!" Holly answered. She was shocked by Colleen's question.

            "Then why would you just start with us?" Aaron asked Holly. "We already knew that you were half demon."

            "Because it's in my nature," Holly explained. "Don't you see? I can never get close to you when it is my nature to hurt anyone who gets close to you."

            "It doesn't matter," Dawn told Holly. "Being of demon lineage might be what you are but it doesn't dictate who you are."

            "You've fought by our sides," Colleen said to Holly. "You've done everything you could to be good. Why would you just give in and try to hurt us?"

            "It doesn't scare you?" Holly asked. "What I'm capable of?"

            "What you're capable of?" Colleen asked. "I could rip your head off and I'm supposed to be worried that you'll try to sleep with me?"

            Holly felt her lips slowly curl into a smile. Jordan was the closest and he hugged her, followed by Colleen.

            "Group hug!" Aaron said as everyone now hugged Holly, even Mike.

            "We love you Holly," Dawn told her. "We're here for you no matter what."

            Holly looked at all of them. She once again made eye contact with Mike. This time he didn't break it. He just looked back at her and smiled.

*****

            "So that was some party," Aaron told Dawn as she helped him clean up. "I mean it wasn't exactly the way I thought it would turn out but it was still nice."

            "Yeah," Dawn said. Dawn didn't say anything but she thought about what she said. She thought about how she believed that what you are doesn't dictate who you are. She hadn't told her friends yet that she was the Key. She knew she should. She knew that if Holly had been brave enough to come clean that she should have followed her lead. But she also knew what happened last time.

            "Are you listening?" Aaron said. He had hoped that he would get a chance to talk to Dawn alone that night. He wanted to tell Dawn how he felt about her, but she was barely even paying attention. Maybe tonight wasn't the right night.

*****

            "I thought I had it rough," Colleen said. "I was about to throw a pity party for myself because I find out that my mom is a vampire."

            "That's still major," Mike told her. He walked with her on patrol.

            "But Holly has been through a lot more," Colleen answered. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"

            "I didn't think it was my place," Mike answered her. "Look what happened last time I told someone about it."

            "So did you and Holly ever consider each other brother and sister?" Colleen asked Mike.

            "I care about her a lot," was Mike's answer.

*****

            Jordan walked Holly home. They talked. For the first time they really talked like friends. It made Jordan happy that Holly had finally accepted them as her friends.

            "I hope you had a good birthday," Jordan told her when they got to her door.

            She smiled at him. "It was the best."

            "See you tomorrow," Jordan said.

            "Good night," Holly answered. She shut the door and Jordan walked home. He wanted to tell her that he was sorry that she didn't get her wish. But he didn't want to embarrass her. He didn't mean to read her mind, he usually wasn't able to. But now he knew the truth. He knew that Holly was in love with Mike.

*****

Author's Note: Please, if anyone is reading this tell me what you think. I'm starting to get desperate! If you like it or hate it I don't care. I just am wondering if anyone is reading this. Sigh…I know I'll just keep writing either way. Thanks for reading.


	4. Growing Pains

Disclaimer:        Any character that you've seen on the show is owned by Joss, not me.

Colleen

The new slayer

Jordan

Psychic who receives The Visions

Holly

Half Sellar Demon

Dawn

The Key

Aaron

Currently exploring magicks

*****

            "Nothing at all?" Colleen asked. It was 9th period study hall and the entire Scooby gang, as well as Mike, was trying to find out any information about the Key. They had thus far found no information whatsoever.

            Aaron shook his head. "Sorry," he told her. "I've gone through every single book in the Magic Box. I've even checked the internet. I've found millions and millions of sites about the Key, but how the Hell do I figure out which 'the Key' is our 'the Key?'"

            "Dawn?" Colleen got Dawn's attention, who was kind of looking off into the distance. "Did any of your sources have anything to say about the Key?"

            Dawn shook her head. "No," she lied. She had never even got in touch with them. "They didn't know anything."

            "Are they checking it out?" Jordan asked Dawn.

            Dawn nodded her head. Another lie. "Yeah."

            "What did Kaoryn," Mike hesitated for a second. He made sure that Colleen was okay. "Say about the Key?" Mike was trying his hardest to be helpful.

            "All she said was that she knew that the Slayer had the Key," Holly informed him.

            "Yeah," Colleen said, swallowing her emotions. She had always wanted to know what had happened to her mother. She had considered the option that she might have died, but she never dreamt that she could be a vampire. "As far as I know I don't have the Key? At least if I do no one told me about it."

            "Isn't there another Slayer?" Aaron asked. "Dawn, what did you say her name was? Faith? Maybe she has the Key?"

            Dawn shook her head. "I don't think that's very likely. Last time I checked she was still in jail. Of course, she was charged as a minor. There is a chance that she might be out by now."

            "Maybe it's all just a case of mistaken identity," Jordan offered.

            "Can you check that out?" Colleen asked Dawn. "Do you have someone you could talk to about it?"

            "Wait," Aaron interrupted. "This isn't anything supernatural. Prison releases and stuff like that, especially for things like murder, that would all be on the internet. As long as she's over 18 now that is."

            "Yeah," Dawn nodded her head. "She would probably be at least 19 by now."

            "Great," Aaron said. "Then it's to the internet." Aaron stood up from the table and took Dawn with him. They walked over to an open computer against the wall of the library.

            "So what's the Slayer's name?" Aaron asked.

            "Faith," Dawn answered him.

            "Last name?" Aaron asked.

            "Um…" Dawn thought for a moment. "Comma the Vampire Slayer?"

            "You don't know her last name?"

            "I was twelve," Dawn said in defense of herself.

            Aaron sighed. He went to work searching through the internet. He tried to make some small talk with Dawn. He had always been able to talk to her before he realized how much he really did care about her. If Dawn didn't have so many other things on her mind she might have been able to talk to him too.

            "So did your sister ever have to protect mystic objections that she knew nothing about?" Aaron asked Dawn trying to keep a conversation going.

            "Yeah," Dawn said very shortly. "From time to time."

            "Like what?" Aaron asked her. "Anything keylike?"

            "How am I supposed to know?" Dawn asked Aaron. "It's not like I was in the inner circle or anything."

            "Sorry," Aaron said responding to the way that Dawn snapped her answer. "I was just curious." He kept searching through the internet till he finally found the information that he was looking for.

            "So?" Colleen asked Aaron and Dawn as they rejoined the others.

            Aaron shook his head. "She's still in jail."

            "But what if she has the Key in jail?" Colleen asked. She suddenly had an idea. "Holly, you have your license right?"

            "Yeah," Holly told her. She had received her license last week.

            "Well then," Colleen said with a smile. "Looks like us girls are going to be taking a road trip."

*****

            Aaron waited for Dawn in the yard of the school after classes got out. He looked nervous, so nervous that Jordan didn't even have to use his psychic abilities to realize it.

            "So I'm guessing today is the day?" Jordan asked Aaron.

            Aaron smiled a nervous smile. He had told Jordan about his feelings after Colleen told him that Jordan most likely already knew. "Yep," Aaron told him monosyllabically.

            "Good luck," Jordan told him as he walked off towards home.

            "Thanks," Aaron told him. "It would be better if you told me that you read Dawn to see how much she deeply loved me."

            Jordan laughed. "Sorry," Jordan told him as he kept walking away, "But if you want some advice, I say just be yourself. I'm told that girls like that."

            Aaron smiled. He tried to think calming thoughts. He tried really hard to think calming thoughts, but it was kind of in vane. He had known Dawn since she had moved to Sunnydale. She had been his best friend for the last year and a half and probably for the rest of his life. He knew that he was putting it all at risk by telling her what he felt but he really didn't care. He knew that deep down, if this was the way that he felt about Dawn, then Dawn had to feel the same way about him.

            Dawn was incredible. In every single facet of the word Dawn was incredible. Ever since he had come to terms with the way he felt about her she had become the first thing he thought about every morning when he woke up and the last thing he thought about before he went to sleep. Most importantly, Aaron felt that if he didn't get all these feelings outside of him he was going to explode.

            "Hey!" Aaron said a little too enthusiastically when he saw Dawn walking up to him.

            "Hey," Dawn told him. "Look, I'm sorry for snapping out on you earlier. It's just been really stressful lately with Kaoryn and all."

            "No it's cool," Aaron told Dawn. "You look really nice today? Did I tell you that already?"

            "No," Dawn answered curiously. "You never tell me that."

            "Well that's because I'm a moron," Aaron told Dawn. "Because you look amazing. You always look amazing. Everything about you leaves me in a never ending state of shock."

            "Aaron…" Dawn began to interrupt.

            "Wait no," Aaron told Dawn. "Just let me say this. I like you a lot. You are the single greatest thing about my life."

            "Aaron," Dawn said making sure that she made eye contact with Aaron. "You are my best friend."

            "And you're my best friend," Aaron told her. "But the way I feel about you, the way I care about you, it's so much more than friendship." Aaron paused to look at Dawn. He looked at her with the utmost desperation. "But I'm starting to think that friendship is as far as your feelings go."

            "Aaron," Dawn said, "Please stop. I can't handle this right now."

            "And you could handle it some other time?" Aaron asked her. He looked more hurt than he ever had before in his life.

            "Aaron," Dawn said slowly. "I do care about you a lot. And you are my best friend."

            "But that's it," Aaron answered for Dawn. She paused for a moment. "Yeah, I get it." Aaron began to walk off towards his house.

            "Aaron wait," Dawn called after Aaron.

            "Forget it," Aaron said without looking back. "Have fun in L.A."

*****

            "Oh no," Colleen said after Dawn had finished telling her story. Colleen, Dawn, and Holly were in Holly's mom's car on their way to L.A.

            "He must be devastated," Holly said.

            "Gee," Dawn said. "Thanks for trying to make me feel better."

            "Sorry," Holly told her.

            "So you really don't want to be anything more than friends?" Colleen asked Dawn.

            "I don't know," Dawn said. "I mean, I never thought about it really."

            "Then why did you say no?" Colleen asked her.

            "There's just so much going on right now," Dawn said. "I just don't think I could deal with something like that right now."

            "Then why didn't you tell him that?" Colleen asked.

            "I tried to," Dawn said, "but that wasn't the answer that Aaron wanted to hear."

            "Why not now?" Holly asked Dawn. "What's going on now that you can't deal with it?"

            "Just everything I guess," Dawn tried to come up with a reason. "I mean between the new big bad and sophomore year I don't think I could take that right now."

            "No offense Dawn," Colleen told her, "But that's a pretty lame reason."

*****

            Aaron lay on his bed staring up at the ceiling. He knew that he had been crying and he wasn't sure if he still was or not. He wasn't sure how long he had been lying there. He didn't know if it was still Friday night or Saturday morning. He didn't know anything anymore. All the time that he ran the scenario he never had expected that ending. He thought about it, but he never really believed that it could happen. Right now all he wanted to do was just lie on his bed and be alone.

            "Go away," Aaron said when he heard a knock on the door.

            "I take it that everything did not go according to plan?" Jordan asked as he walked into Aaron's room.

            "I'm sorry," Aaron said not looking over at Jordan. "Apparently I didn't speak loud enough. That was my fault. Now go away. Seriously Jordan, just leave."

            "And the funny thing is that you honestly think that I would just go away," Jordan told him. He sat down at the end of Aaron's bed. "I think she's a bitch if that helps at all."

            "You're talking about my best friend," Aaron told Jordan. "And I know you don't think that."

            "Just trying to help," Jordan told him.

            Aaron smiled. "It's just that it hurts."

            "I can understand," Jordan told him. "Not from experience or anything but I can imagine it hurting."

            "It's just that she means so much to me," Aaron tried to explain. "I love everything about her."

            "Do you love her?" Jordan asked him.

            "No," Aaron said, but there was a pause before he said. "I mean, like I said, I love everything about her, but I don't think that I love her."

            "Hey you never know," Jordan told him, "Maybe she just needed time to think. Maybe she just needs time to realize how she feels about you."

            "Maybe," Aaron said as he sat up in bed. "Do you know the first time that I realized how much I like her?" Jordan shook his head. "It was that time we were at the Bronze and Martyr was trying to get the Omicron. This vampire had Dawn by the throat and I knew that I couldn't let anything happen to her. Like I knew that I would do anything to keep her safe and make her happy and make everything in the world just the way she wanted it."

            "Just give her time," Jordan told him.

            There was another knock on the door. "Come in," Aaron called out.

            Mike walked into the room. "Hey," he greeted them. "I just come over to see if you guys were going to patrol tonight since all the others went to L.A."

            "Probably," Jordan told him. "We'll make a sweep or something."

            "Is everything okay?" Mike asked when he saw that Aaron had been crying.

            "I asked Dawn out today," Aaron told him. "What do you think she said?"

            "I'm sorry man," Mike told Aaron. "But you know what this means? We have to have some bitch-free fun tonight."

            Aaron laughed. "Why is it that everyone just turns on Dawn when she turns me down?"

            "Because you're here and she's not," Mike answered with a smile. "So seriously, what do you want to do? We could go to the Bronze or we could rent a movie or go out or something."

            Aaron began to feel a little bit better. Mike wasn't exactly friends with Aaron and Jordan. Before tonight he wasn't really anything more than Colleen's boy friend. But here he was trying to make Aaron feel better.

            "Well there is something that I kind of wanted to try," Aaron said. "I mean, as long as Jordan is up for it."

            "Sure," Jordan said. "Why wouldn't I be up for it?"

*****

            "Everyone lock your doors," Holly said after they had parked. "We are in Los Angeles after all."

            "So do you know where in L.A. Spike went?" Colleen asked Dawn.

            "I know the place," Dawn told her, "But I'm not sure where it's at."

            "Maybe we could stop by there later?" Colleen suggested.

            "Let's focus on the mission at hand first," Holly told them as they entered the jail.

*****

            "Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Mike asked Aaron.

            "Positive," Aaron said. "Well, almost positive."

            "And are you sure you're cool with this?" Mike asked Jordan.

            "What harm could it do," Jordan said, and then thought about what harm it could do. "Maybe I shouldn't have said this."

            "This should be OK," Aaron told Jordan. Aaron had candles lit around his room and had a magic book in front of him. He also had a container filled with a potion and some sand.

            "So where did you find this spell anyway?" Mike asked Aaron.

            "When I was doing all my demon research I came across it," Aaron told him. "It looks really easy. And plus there's the added bonus of the boost in power."

            "We could always use more power," Jordan said as he sat cross legged in the middle of a circle of candles. "Let's just do this."

            Aaron cleared his throat. "Son of Gelaro, hear me. Enter with me this circle of light with an open heart and hear the song of the ages. Be one with what you are and accept it into your being. Hear me, and call forth to the ancient ones. Call forth and let them know your plea."

            Jordan closed his eyes and entered a kind of trance. A light blue aura appeared around him. Mike stared at him in awe. Aaron had to clear his throat again to get Mike's attention. Mike gave him a sorry look and took a handful of the sand. Aaron did the same. Aaron slowly mouthed "one, two, three" and on three both Aaron and Mike threw the sand onto Jordan which turned the aura from blue to red.

            "Awaken," Aaron said with a clap.

            Jordan's eyes flew open. His eyes were wide with panic. He looked towards the candles and they blew out. He looked over at a window and it swung open. He looked to the book beside Aaron and the book suddenly closed. Jordan grabbed his head and lay down in a fetal position.

            "Turn them off!" He said desperately. "Please make it stop." Jordan was being bombarded with thoughts.

            "Okay," Aaron said quickly, "Jordan calm down its okay. Just drink this." Aaron approached Jordan with the vial of potion. Jordan opened his eyes and looked at the potion and it the vial suddenly shattered.

            "Uh oh," Aaron said.

            "Uh oh?" Mike questioned. "What's wrong? Can't you just make some more?"

            "Not without going to the Magic Box," Aaron told him.

            "Uh oh," Mike agreed.

            Jordan continued to moan on the ground.

*****

            Dawn was nervous about seeing Faith again. When Dawn was in 7th grade Faith had locked Dawn in the basement of her home while her mother had been tied up. Before that Dawn had always liked Faith. It was mostly because it made Buffy mad because of the slayer competition.

            Of course, none of that was real, but Dawn tried hard not to think about that.

            When Faith appeared on the other side of the glass she looked at Dawn with surprise. "Well if it isn't Little Miss Muffet," Faith greeted Dawn.

            "Faith," Dawn said as toneless as she could. She had heard that Faith was trying to make up for what she had done but it was still hard to be nice to her.

            "Who are your friends?" Faith asked.

            "This is Holly," Dawn said introducing Holly. "And this is Colleen," she paused for a moment, "the Vampire Slayer."

            "The Slayer?" Faith questioned. "Did I die and no one told me because the last time I checked a Slayer could only be called if another Slayer-" She stopped mid thought. "Oh God."

            Dawn looked at Faith in the eyes and Faith stared back. For the first time Dawn saw Faith truly look upset. She watched the way that Faith's eyes tried to fight back against the pressure that was building behind them and in that instant Dawn felt forgiveness surge up within her.

            "Please say that you're kidding," Faith pleaded with Dawn. Dawn remained silent. "How?" Faith said finally.

            "Saving the world," Dawn said simply.

            "Figured," Faith said with a sad smile. "There's no other way that she would go out." There was a pause. Dawn watched as Faith's smile eventually broke and she began to cry.

            "Faith?" Dawn asked concerned.

            "It's just," Faith said, "I never got to earn her forgiveness."

            "She forgave you," Dawn told Faith. Faith looked up at her. "She forgave you."

*****

            Aaron, Mike, and Jordan walked down the streets of Sunnydale as quickly as they could. Jordan tried to keep his eyes on the ground but his senses were working at full force. He was aware of everything around him.

            "Wait," Jordan said as he stopped in front of an alley.

            "We're almost-" Aaron began.

            Jordan walked into an alley where a vamp had just begun to feed on a girl. The vampire was suddenly pushed against the wall and the girl stared at him in confusion before running away terrified. The vampire turned around and spotted Jordan, Aaron, and Mike. He angrily started to come after Jordan when he was again pushed into the wall. Jordan turned to a wooden crate next to him that shattered sending a large stake directly towards the vampire's heart. As the vampire turned to dust he had a very confused look on his face.

            "Wow," Mike said, "Maybe you-"

            "No," Jordan said as he began walking toward the Magic Box. "Let's go."

*****

            "Wow," Colleen said when they were all in Holly's car again. Faith of course knew nothing about the Key and Dawn still didn't tell her friends the truth.

            "Do you want to go visit your friends?" Holly asked Dawn.

            "No," Dawn told her. "Let's just go home."

*****

            "There you go," Aaron said as he gave Jordan the potion. This time Jordan drank it. He instantly had relief. "I'm sorry about that."

            "It's okay," Jordan told him. "I agreed to it. I knew the risks."

            "Are you okay?" Mike asked Jordan.

            "Yeah," Jordan said. He stood up. "Actually, I feel good." Jordan looked at the table that Mike and Aaron were sitting at and he levitated it. "Really good."

            "Alls well that ends well I guess," Mike said.

            "Thank you," Aaron said to Jordan and Mike. "Both of you. Thanks for trying to make me feel better. It means a lot to me."

            "Hey," Mike said, "What are friends for?"

****

Author's Note: Okay, so I'm a moron and I had anonymous reviews turned off. I'm sorry about complaining so much about not getting any reviews. I guess it was partially my fault. Thank you very much to Louisa for pointing that out to me. Anyway, what's everyone I think (I'm a broken record, aren't I?)? How about the Faith appearance? Where does everyone think the story is going?


	5. Burning Out

Disclaimer:Any character that you've seen on the show is owned by Joss, not me.

Colleen

The new slayer

Jordan

Psychic who receives The Visions

Holly

Half Sellar Demon

Dawn

The Key

Aaron

Currently exploring magicks

*****

Jordan sighed. Honors English used to be a really fun class. Now it was just annoying. The little group in the corner had a major rift in it now in the form of the awkwardness between Aaron and Dawn. Whenever Holly or Jordan tried to start a conversation it would be either Aaron or Dawn who would actively participate in it. If they both talked it would be mostly one word statements.

"Aaron," Holly tried to get Aaron's attention. "Did you think that you could help me out with my Algebra later?"

"Huh," Aaron said without looking up from his book. He realized what Holly had asked. "Oh sure."

There was another pause. Jordan and Holly exchanged an exasperated expression.

"Dawn," Jordan attempted to get her to talk. "When is that next lab report due?"

"A week from Wednesday," Dawn told him.

More silence. Something had to be done about this, and soon.

*****

"I thought you said that you were still going to be friends," Jordan pointed out to Aaron as they walked off campus towards their homes at the end of the day.

"I realize that we are still friends," Aaron pointed out. "But it's a little hard to talk to her when I poured my heart out to her and the only thing she could do was complain that I got her shoes wet."

"No offense Aaron," Jordan told his friend, "But you know there was a chance that she wouldn't feel the same way when you decided to tell her how you felt."

Aaron stopped. "At first I thought it would tare me apart, not knowing how she felt about me. I remember thinking that anything would be better than not knowing." Aaron paused. He looked up at the sky and took note of how blue it was. "But it turns out that I was wrong."

"Aaron stop," Jordan told him.

"I wasn't going to go storming off," Aaron told him. He noticed the way that Jordan stared off into space with his eyes glazed over. It was a sight that Aaron had grown used to. "Oh," he said simply, "I get it."

Jordan watched as he was shown a clearing in the forest. There was a cliff that had a cave. The area surrounding the cave was dead. Jordan watched as Kaoryn and Gunner, with several other vampires, allowed another vampire to cast a spell to locate the key. The vision seemed to fast forward through time showing the vampires all leaving and the sun coming up shining on the spot where they performed the ritual.

"Kaoryn and Gunner are trying to find the Key," Jordan told Aaron. "There doing some spell in a clearing in the woods."

"What's going on?" Aaron said, questioning Jordan's very confused expression.

"It's nothing," Jordan told Aaron, "It was just a weird vision."

"How so?" Aaron asked.

"It was just different," was all Jordan said.

*****

"So when do you get to close this place up?" Colleen asked. She had just gotten to the Magic Box about two minutes ago and was nervously pacing through the store.

"Nine," Aaron said. "Just another ten minutes."

"Should Aaron get some supplies?" Holly asked. "In case that he needs to counter the spell?"

"The plan is to just go interrupt the spell," Colleen told her. She still continued to pace nervously.

Aaron stood behind the counter finishing counting down the cash register. Jordan, Holly, and Dawn all sat at the table towards the back of the story. Colleen paced near the table. She was nervous. The last time that she had faced Kaoryn she had frozen up. She knew that Kaoryn wasn't her mom. She knew that when she saw her that it was actually what had killed her mom. Knowing this didn't stop her from remaining nervous.

"So where's Mike?" Dawn asked Colleen.

"Mike's not a part of the team," Colleen told her.

"But where is he?" Dawn asked.

"The game," Jordan pointed out to Dawn. "He had a basketball game tonight."

"Oh yeah," Dawn said. "I forgot."

Colleen continued to pace. She was starting to make everyone else just as nervous as she was.

"Maybe you should sit down," Jordan told her. "You don't want to get yourself all worked up before the fight. Or wait, maybe you should be getting yourself worked up? Which is more conducive to slaying?"

"We can go work out in the back," Dawn suggested. "It's mostly a storage room now but there's still some space that we can work out."

"Sure," Colleen said. "You want to come Holly?"

"Why not," Holly said. "There's nothing better to do." Holly and Dawn stood up and walked with Colleen towards the back room.

Aaron finished counting down the cash register and put it in the safe. He turned off the lights in the office and went to go lock the door. When he got to the glass door though, he was startled by someone else walking in. The boy who walked in was about the same age as Aaron. He was taller than Aaron, who was average height. The boy had dirty brown hair and green eyes. His face seemed to belong to someone who experienced more than could ever be possible for a boy his age.

"I'm sorry," Aaron said. "The store's closed for the night."

"I'm not here to shop," the boy told Aaron. His voice was very hollow. Every syllable was projected just to serve its purpose of communication and nothing more. It was as if the boy only bothered with talking because it was the only way to express what needed to be done. "I'm here to help you."

"Help me?" Aaron asked.

"I'm here to help the Slayer," the young man said simply.

"Jordan," Aaron called back to his friend. "Go get Colleen."

Jordan looked over at the scene questioningly and then retreated into the back room. Aaron walked past the stranger and locked the door, turning the sign so that it read closed. Shortly after he had entered the back room, Jordan returned with Colleen, Holly, and Dawn.

"You're the slayer," the stranger said. He wasn't asking a question, he was stating a fact.

"I'm Colleen," Colleen introduced herself. She came closer to the stranger and got a good look at him. She immediately found herself short on breath. It was almost like she had known the stranger her entire life but never realized it until that very moment. Every molecule of her being pulled her closer to him. When she looked into his eyes, it was almost like she could see some other part of herself that before then had remained hidden.

"I'm Eben," Eben told her. "I'm going to help you tonight."

Colleen took a long look at Eben. She knew that she really wasn't thinking like herself but she couldn't figure out how to think like herself at that moment. "How do you know what is going on?" Colleen asked him.

"I'm a warrior for The Powers That Be," Eben explained. "I was close to Sunnydale and I was able to receive a vision that you would be fighting tonight. I came here to help you fight."

"Not to offend you or anything," Aaron said. "But what makes you a warrior of The Powers That Be?"

Eben smiled. He turned to Aaron and effortlessly lifted him high above his head with only one hand. Once he had him already in the air he let go and Aaron remained floating in space. Eben kept his palm slightly apart from Aaron's chest and began to concentrate. Aaron floated higher into the air until Aaron's back was against the ceiling.

"Oh," Aaron said. "I see." Eben smiled at him and softly floated him back down to the ground.

"If you receive The Visions that means that you have to at least be part demon," Jordan said to Eben.

"At least part," Eben said.

"So how do we know you are on our side?" Dawn asked.

"Would The Powers That Be trust a force of evil with The Visions?" Eben asked.

"No offense," Aaron said to Eben, slightly afraid that he would be back up against the ceiling in a less friendly way, "but how are we supposed to know that you receive The Visions? I mean, you could have made all that up."

"I believe him," Colleen said. "I think he's on our side."

Everyone's head turned towards Colleen. Eben gave her a small grin. Holly walked closer to the slayer.

"Colleen," Holly said to her friend quietly, "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Yeah," Colleen said. "If he was a threat I think The Powers would have warned up by now. And besides, between the two of us I think we could take him."

"OK," Holly said, although she wasn't exactly sure that Eben could be trusted.

*****

The six teenagers walked through the woods together in a close group. Jordan and Dawn were towards the front since they were holding the two flashlights. Aaron was closer to the back of the group. He held his hand above his head and a soft glow of light illuminated from it thanks to a spell he had cast.

"Are you sure you know where you're going?" Aaron asked Jordan.

"Almost completely sure," Jordan told Aaron. "At least, I think I'm almost completely sure."

"This is the right way," Eben assured them.

Colleen walked close to Eben. She kept an eye on him at all times. In the back of her mind was the thought that he could possibly be up to no good but she really didn't think that he was. Meanwhile, Holly kept her eye on Colleen. Ever since Kaoryn had revealed her connection to Colleen, Colleen hadn't exactly been 100% on her game.

Since Colleen paid a little too much attention watching Eben, she didn't notice the upturned root in front of her. She tripped and would have fallen if Eben wouldn't have grabbed her by her elbow. He gently pulled her back up and let her regain her balance.

"Thanks," Colleen said to him, looking into his eyes again.

"Don't worry about it," Eben said to her and kept on walking.

The group traveled a little bit further into the woods. As they kept moving Jordan became more and more familiar with the stretch of woods that they were in. The more they walked the more certain he was that they were on the right way.

"We're close," Eben said to Jordan.

"Yeah," Jordan agreed. He pointed his flashlight over to a path which seemed to lead down a hill. "It's right over there."

"OK guys," Colleen said. "Flashlights off." Jordan and Dawn turned off their flashlights. Aaron said a quick phrase in Latin and the light that had streamed from his fist slowly faded. They walked down the path and spotted the ceremony. There couldn't have been more than ten vampires, but two of them had proven themselves to be quite strong.

"You three stay back here," Colleen said to Aaron, Dawn, and Jordan. Dawn and Aaron moved back and made sure to stay on either side of Jordan. Colleen turned to Holly and Eben. "Let's go," she said to them as she pulled out a stake and made her way down the path. Holly followed her and shifted into demon form once she got to the trail. Eben barely even seemed to notice the change in her appearance.

"What's the plan?" Holly asked as she crouched down next to Colleen. They were only a few yards away from the vampires at this point.

"I say we each take out one with a surprise staking in the back," Colleen explained. "We'll all get as far away from each other as possible and try and see if we can take out as many of the follower vampires as possible…"

Colleen trailed off on her plan because as she was talking Eben had made his way out and staked two vampires at the same time. He then started working his way around the circle.

"Or we could just do that," Colleen said with a sigh. She and Holly then joined the fight. Colleen took out the vampires on the edge. She didn't want to admit it but she was afraid to fight the woman who had once been her mother. Holly could sense Colleen's fears. Holly quickly tried to stake the vampire who was attempting to cast the spell but she was intercepted by Gunner.

"Not so fast goldy," Gunner said to her as he punched her in the mouth. "I called first dance." Holly was quickly back on her feet and found herself matched up with Gunner. She quickly realized how much stronger Gunner was than the other vampires she had fought previously.

Colleen fought two vampires at the same time. She timed her attacks carefully so that she was still able to defend herself. It didn't take her very long to stake both of the vampires. She began to move towards the vampire who was casting the locator spell when she fell over from a hard kick to her back.

"Come on Colleen," Kaoryn said as she picked up Colleen by the back of her neck. "I saw you avoiding me. How is that suppose to make a mother feel?" Kaoryn threw Colleen so that she hit a tree hard. Colleen lay on the ground in pain and looked up to see Kaoryn running towards her. Colleen reacted in time and kicked her legs hard into Kaoryn's stomach, flipping her into the same trick.

"There we go," Kaoryn said as she stood herself up. "Now you're playing the game." Colleen, as much as it made her want to throw up, was now fighting the dead body of her mother. Colleen remembered all the times that she had gone to sleep at night wondering where her mother was. All the memories that Colleen had of her mothers were all of the same woman who was so unhappy. It was as if she felt that faith had dealt her a bad hand. Colleen thought that her mom believed that she deserved more than her suburban life.

Colleen fought hard against the monster that had killed her mother. Although for the majority of the time Colleen was never very close to her mother. Still, there were those moments when Colleen would be held by her mother and felt love. That woman was gone. The creature before her was evil. It was a demon.

Colleen had taken the upper hand in the fight. She landed a few blows and had managed to get Kaoryn on her back. She pulled out her stake and immediately began to plunge it towards the vampire's heart. Colleen caught a glimpse of Kaoryn's face as it shifted from the face of a vampire into the face of her mother. Colleen hesitated. Kaoryn took advantage of the situation and quickly regained the advantage in the fight. Colleen was still slightly fazed and that allowed Kaoryn to hold her from behind, leaving Colleen unable to fight.

"Shhhh…" Kaoryn whispered to Colleen in a mock attempt to calm her. "Calm down baby, it's going to be OK." Colleen cringed away from the voice but couldn't shut it out. She looked ahead of her in horror as she realized the second vampire that was quickly coming towards her staring at her neck. Her eyes grew wide and she quickly began to struggle again. "I said calm down," Kaoryn said as she tightened her grip, "this will all be over very soon."

The vampire got closer and closer and there wasn't a thing that Colleen could do about it. She looked over at Holly who was still fighting with Gunner. She searched for Eben but there were two more vampires that were between him and Colleen. As the vampire lowered her head towards Colleen's neck she closed her eyes and tried to brace herself. Suddenly, the vampire burst into flames. Both Colleen and Kaoryn were stunned, but Colleen recovered first and flipped Kaoryn over her shoulder. She looked towards the source of the flame and saw Eben with his eyes glowing red. Eben turned from Colleen towards the vampire that was performing the spell and watched as flames poured out of Eben's outstretched hands and ignited the vampire.

After Eben's little pyrotechnic act the only vampire's left were Kaoryn and Gunner. With three on one, the odds weren't looking very good for the two vampires. Kaoryn took off towards the cave and Gunner gave Holly one last punch and followed Kaoryn. Colleen and Eben raced into the cave after them with Holly a little further behind.

"Where did they go?" Colleen asked looking around the small cave. The light of the moon was the only thing illuminating the cave but it was obvious that there were no secret tunnels or exits. The only part of the cave was the small chamber they were in.

"Can you do some more torch action?" Colleen asked Eben.

Eben extended his hand and his eyes flickered red but no flames were emitted. Eben shook his head. "Sorry," Eben told her, "I'm a little drained."

"Where could they have gone?" Holly asked.

Colleen shrugged. "They seem to be familiar with magic. Maybe they teleported out."

"Regardless we stopped their spell," Eben said as he walked towards the exit. Holly and Colleen were soon behind him. They walked back up to where Aaron, Jordan, and Dawn were waiting. Jordan sat awkwardly in silence between Aaron and Dawn. When they saw the other three returning they stood up.

"Everything go OK?" Dawn asked.

"Spell was stopped," Colleen informed her. Dawn gave an expression of relief. To the others it seemed like she was glad that Kaoryn and Gunner hadn't found the Key. In reality it was relief that her secret was still safe with her. Pretending to not know about the key was tearing her up inside. Dawn wasn't sure how much longer she could keep this charade up, especially when it meant that her friends were risking their lives.

"And Kaoryn and Gunner?" Jordan asked.

Colleen shook her head. "They got away."

"Well," Eben said as he started walking off into the woods. "Although I'm pretty sure you guys could have handled this on your own I'm glad I could help."

"Where's he going?" Aaron asked as Eben kept walking off into the shadows.

"Keeping up his mysterious mystique?" Holly suggested. She smiled at her witty comment. She liked being able to be herself with her friends.

"Wait here," Colleen said. "I'll be right back." Colleen raced after Eben. He was walking slowly but they were far enough away from the others for them to be undisturbed.

"Wait up," Colleen said as Eben turned to look at her. "I just wanted to say thank you."

"You're welcome," Eben said. "And you're a good fighter. Maybe better than me."

Colleen smiled. "Well you kind of saved my life back there."

Eben smiled back. "Don't worry about it." He turned to leave again.

"Will…" Colleen began. Eben stopped and looked back at her. "Will we ever see you again?"

A white smoke began to flash somewhat around Eben as he began to fade into the night. "What do you think?" he asked as he disappeared completely.

Colleen stared at the emptiness where Eben once stood for a few moments thinking to herself. "As if my life wasn't complicated enough already," she said as she turned to regroup with her friends.

*****

Author's Note:What do you think of Eben? Personally he's one of my favorite characters. I've been thinking about making a webpage for my story and getting photos of actors and actresses that I think look like my characters. Maybe I'll do that down the line. Anyway, I'm going to keep this series going for a pretty long time. I'm not going to admit how far into the future that I have it planned, but it is a pretty good length. All of the seasons are going to be twelve chapters long though. Next two chapters make up a two-parter and make up a milestone for this season.


	6. Love's Requiem Part One

Disclaimer:        Any character that you've seen on the show is owned by Joss, not me.

Colleen

The new slayer

Jordan

Psychic who receives The Visions

Holly

Half Sellar Demon

Dawn

The Key

Aaron

Currently exploring magicks

*****

            Colleen sat at her desk in her room trying to get her homework done. She looked down at the math problems she had done. They didn't make any sense whatsoever to her. She was glad that her teacher graded on completeness and not correctness. As she realized she made yet another mistake she furiously began to erase the problem. The piece of paper eventually ripped from too much erasing. Colleen was so mad that she threw her pencil across her desk. When she reached over to get her pencil back she looked at the photograph that it rested next to.

            The picture was taken a long time ago. Colleen couldn't even remember when it had been taken. It was her, her dad, and her mom. She looked at the picture and saw the way that she was so close with her father. When her mom had left she had overheard conversations people said about her. They always said that it was in her eyes. Colleen looked at her mom's eyes and she saw it. There was this longing for something more.

            Colleen knew that Kaoryn wasn't her mother. She knew that her mother's soul had left that body and a demon had taken over. She knew that her mother's soul was in the ether. The way Aaron explained it, after he had done some research on the topic, was that the soul waited in the ether because it still had ties to the body. While in the ether, it wasn't aware of anything. Once the vampire had been slain then the soul could continue on its travels, unaware of losing any time.

            "Do you still think about her?" Colleen's dad walked into Colleen's room.

            "Yeah," Colleen admitted. She really hadn't thought much about her mother until she had returned.

            "I like to think that she's happier now," Colleen's dad told her. "Wherever she's at now I like to think that she's happy."

            Colleen bit down on her lower lip. She looked at the picture as a tear began to move down her cheek. She hoped that her dad didn't see it. She was determined to help her mother get to a place where she could be happy.

            "I'm sure she is," Colleen told her dad.

*****

            Dawn lay down in bed staring at the ceiling. She had no clue how late it was but she knew that it was late. She sighed as she realized that she was never going to be able to sleep again. There was just way too much that was going on for her to be able to sleep.

            First of all there was the fact that powerful vampires where looking for her. They didn't know where she was, but she knew that it could only be a matter of time before they figured it out. It was so soon since the last time this happened. Little more than a year had gone by between Buffy dying to save her and Kaoryn and Gunner trying to find her.

            Next there was the fact that Dawn was lying to her friends. She was holding back very important information from them that could eventually get them killed. She knew that she at least owed it to them to tell them the truth. Beyond how irresponsible it was to not tell them, she at least owed it to them. And what about Xander, Anya, Willow and the others? Didn't she owe it to them just as much as she owed it to the others?

            And there was always the ever present awareness that Dawn wasn't really human. She was the Key. Even though everything she knew was human and that she felt human, she still was the Key. She had hoped that when Buffy died that maybe she was no longer the Key, but now it looked like she still was.

            And Dawn was letting all of this get in the way of her friendship with Aaron. Aaron had been the closest friend Dawn had ever had. A relationship with Aaron had honestly never passed through Dawn's mind, but when Aaron had suggested it Dawn had instantly turned the idea down. She realized that she had caused a wedge between her and Aaron and she hoped that they would be able to work it out in time.

            Dawn knew that she couldn't tell her friends that she was the Key and she knew she couldn't tell the others that someone was after her again. The fact of the matter was that if they knew they would try to stop her again. Buffy had sacrificed herself so that Dawn could live and now it looked like her sacrifice might have only gotten Dawn an extra two years. Everything Dawn knew about her being the Key made her believe that the best way to keep her loved ones safe was to keep it a secret, no matter how much it killed her to do it. Dawn knew what she might have to do and she knew that they would try to stop her. Dawn knew that to save the world there was a good chance that she would have to die.

*****

            "Breakthrough!" Aaron exclaimed as he sat down at the usual table in the library that the group sat at during study hall.

            "What's going on?" Colleen asked Aaron.

            "I think I might have found a lead on the Key," Aaron explained to everyone. Dawn tensed up a little bit.

            "Where?" Jordan asked him.

            "Online," Aaron told them. "I was going through some Pagan web-groups and message boards and I came across this post from this monk in Romania. Anyway, this monk was talking about how the Key had been turned and the world survived and how it's a miracle. The thing is, this post was made like sixteen months ago."

            Dawn's pulse quickened a little.

            "Did you get in touch with him?" Colleen asked Aaron.

            Aaron shook his head. "I e-mailed him but I haven't heard a response yet."

            Dawn became more and more nervous. She wondered if this was the beginning of the end.

*****

            Colleen sat on her back porch. She stared up at the stars. It was a very clear night and the sky was full with millions and millions of stars. Colleen let her mind idly wonder. Unfortunately, allowing herself to do that brought her mind back to Eben. She knew nothing about Eben and yet she felt this amazing connection to him. Was it a connection though?

            Colleen hated to admit it but she had felt an attraction towards Eben. There was no real reason for the attraction other that Eben's fighting prowess. She thought back to her conversation she had with Aaron on the night that she had discovered what had happened to her mother. She told Aaron how she wished that Mike had powers too. She wished that Mike would be able to rescue her just as Eben had rescued her.

            Colleen thought about that night more. She remembered the way she reacted to Kaoryn. She remembered the way that Kaoryn had affected her. Colleen had felt a void that night. It was an immense void that she had needed to be filled. The way she filled it surprised her a little when she thought about it the next day. She had sex with Mike. It wasn't something that was completely unexpected. Her and Mike were in love. She knew that Mike was going to be her first; she just wasn't sure when it was going to happen.

Although Colleen knew all this she couldn't get rid of the nagging voice in the back of her mind. Despite all of her reasoning and rationalization could the truth really be something that Colleen didn't want to admit. Colleen wondered to herself whether or not she had just been using Mike. Was she using Mike just to fill the void inside of her? Now that they were intimate with each other was she having sex with Mike out of love or for comfort?

Colleen heard Mike's footsteps coming down her driveway. She looked down at her watch and smiled to herself. Mike was right on time. He made his way from the driveway to Colleen's sidewalk and then up the steps to her back porch. He sat down next to Colleen and gave her a kiss hello.

"So are we patrolling tonight?" Mike asked Colleen.

"Yeah," Colleen told him. "In a little bit. Right now I just want to sit." Colleen held Mike's hand tighter and they both watched the stars together. They sat in silence but they didn't need to talk. They were comfortable with just being with each other. Eventually, Colleen did get a little bored with just sitting in silence and leaned over to kiss Mike.

"Uh oh Colleen," came Kaoryn voice from across the backyard, breaking Colleen and Mike's kiss. "You're grounded."

"Get out of here," Colleen said as she stood up.

"Come now Colleen," Kaoryn said to her. "Isn't this what you always wanted? Didn't you wait up in bed waiting for Mommy to come home?"

"You're not my mother," Colleen said to Kaoryn.

"Why don't we ask your father about that?" Kaoryn asked.

"Stay away from him," Colleen said coldly.

"You're going to have to make me," Kaoryn said as she rushed at Colleen. Colleen ran towards Kaoryn and met her halfway. They started to fight in the middle of the yard.

Colleen looked back to Mike. "Get in the house!" she yelled to him. In her moment of looking back Kaoryn had kicked her in the mouth. Colleen fell back and looked back at Mike who had his hand on the doorknob unsure of what to do. "Call for help," Colleen told him as she got back up. Mike decided that would be a good plan and ran into the house to call the others.

Colleen now could concentrate on the fight. She concentrated on the vampire she was fighting. She knew that this vampire was once her mother but she told herself if her mother's soul was ever going to move on she would have to slay this vampire. Kaoryn was strong, stronger than the average vampire. Colleen had to be at her best in order to compete with her.

There was a problem though. Colleen knew that her dad had gone out with some friends and could be home at any minute. If he did get back and saw his daughter fighting with his ex-wife then there would be a lot of explaining that would need to be done and Colleen was really not looking forward to that father-daughter talk. She needed to get Kaoryn away from the house and she needed to do it fast.

*****

Jordan sat at the Magic Box with Aaron, Holly, and Dawn. Once again they were doing research trying to find out information about the Key while Aaron worked. Jordan noticed the way that Dawn looked like something had been bothering her. She had been like this for a while now and Jordan was starting to get really worried about her. He had asked her if anything was bothering her a few times now and every time she told him that there was nothing wrong.

Still, Jordan knew that there was something bothering her. Jordan could feel that there was something bothering her. He had no idea what it was. He knew that he could read her mind to find out the answer but he knew that that was wrong. He would just have to wait for Dawn to tell him what was wrong. Of course, that didn't mean that he couldn't try to ask again.

"Is anything the matter?" Jordan asked Dawn. They were sitting at the table at the back of the store together. Aaron was at the counter and Holly was going through the book shelves looking for anything that might be useful.

"No," Dawn lied to Jordan. "I just didn't get that much sleep last night." The last statement was true.

"Bad dreams?" Jordan asked Dawn.

Dawn shook her head. She considered Jordan for a moment. If there was anyone she could trust with her secret it would be Jordan. She couldn't tell Colleen or Aaron. She would worry that they would do something stupid to try to protect her. Holly too. Mike wasn't really a part of the group but then again Dawn wasn't really that close with Mike. Plus he would tell Colleen.

"Nah," Dawn told Jordan, deciding that she didn't want to tell him. "I just couldn't sleep."

Jordan could sense that there was something else but he didn't want to pry if Dawn didn't want to share whatever she was keeping inside. "If you ever need to talk you know you can always talk to me," Jordan told Dawn. Dawn looked down at her book. Jordan looked at her for a moment but suddenly he received a vision.

"Saved by the vision," Dawn thought to herself as she looked up to see Holly receiving her vision by proxy.

"What's going on?" Aaron asked Jordan.

Jordan could see Gunner. He knew that Gunner was looking for the Key. He watched as Gunner entered an alley in downtown Sunnydale. He knew that Gunner was looking for an oracle. The oracle would tell him where to find the Key. Gunner walked into the alley and disappeared into a portal. The portal disappeared and time seemed to speed up again until the sun came up and shone on the alley.

Jordan was taken a little aback. This was the second time that his vision had a strange ending like that. He wasn't sure what it meant. At first he thought that it was a fluke, but now that it had happened again he wondered if there was something more that he didn't understand.

"It's Gunner," Jordan told Aaron. "He's going to some portal downtown to see an oracle to find out where the Key is."

"How soon?" Dawn asked. She was getting nervous again.

"Soon," Holly answered for Jordan. "We should get Colleen."

Just then the phone rang. Aaron was startled by the noise and then calmed down. After a few rings and realizing that everyone was staring at him Aaron remembered that it was his job to answer the phone.

"Oh yeah," Aaron said as he picked up the phone. "Magic Box."

"Aaron?" a male voice said from the other end.

"Yes," Aaron said back into the phone. "Who is this?"

"It's Mike," Mike told him. "I called your house and your mom said that you were at work."

"What's going on?" Aaron asked Mike.

"It's Kaoryn," Mike told him. "Me and Colleen are at Colleen's house. Colleen is fighting Kaoryn in the backyard."

"Shit," Aaron said into the phone. It was a distraction. Kaoryn was trying to distract them so that Gunner could go to the oracle.

"She needs help," Mike told Aaron. "She needs to get her out of here so that her dad doesn't see her."

"Don't worry," Aaron told Mike. "We're on our way." Aaron hung up the phone. "Problem. Kaoryn is trying to run interference for Gunner. She's at Colleen's house right now and she needs to get out of there before Colleen's dad gets home."

"Let's split up," Holly suggested. Holly really didn't like to make suggestions of what they should do unless the situation was desperate. "Jordan can go try to find that alley where the portal is and I'll go help Colleen."

"I'll go with Jordan," Dawn told Holly.

"I'm going to stay here," Aaron told them. "If you said that they are going to use a portal to get to this article I should get some supplies ready so we can use the portal too."

"OK," Holly said as she was leaving the Magic Box, "Everyone keep your cell phones on."

*****

Colleen continued to fight against Kaoryn. No one was really winning or losing the fight. Colleen didn't have any weapons on her. She hoped that back up would get there soon because she couldn't figure out anyway to get Kaoryn away from her house.

"Why don't you just give up?" Kaoryn asked Colleen. "You know you can't beat me." Kaoryn shifted from her vampire face to her human face. "You know you can't kill your own mother."

Colleen hesitated a little but not as much as she had the last time. She continued to fight Kaoryn ignoring the fact that she would have trouble staking her own mother. Despite what she knew about vampires, it would still be hard.

"You're not my mother," Colleen told Kaoryn.

"You keep saying that," Kaoryn said, staying in her human face, "but do you really believe it?"

Colleen again hesitated and this time Kaoryn capitalized on the opportunity. She soon had Colleen on the ground as she stayed on top of her. She pinned Colleen's hands to the ground.

Kaoryn looked into Colleen's eyes. "I was your mother once and I can be it again." Kaoryn shifted from her human face into her vampire face. Colleen's expression turned to horror as she realized what was about to happen. She tried to get away but she couldn't escape from Kaoryn.

Kaoryn's mouth got closer and closer to Colleen's throat. Suddenly though, Kaoryn found herself on the ground. Colleen looked up and saw Mike. Mike had waited patiently in the house for the others to get to there but he didn't have a choice when Kaoryn had pinned Colleen down.

"Get back in the house," Colleen said to Mike. Mike nodded and ran to towards the house. Colleen stood up but she wasn't as fast as Kaoryn. Kaoryn managed to grab Mike a split second before Colleen got to her.

"Don't move," Kaoryn said as she held Mike by the throat. "You move and I'll kill him."

Colleen slowly backed away. "Don't hurt him." Colleen had absolutely no idea what to do.

"Now," Kaoryn said with a sickening calm in her voice. "Where is the Key?"

"Why do you want this thing so badly?" Colleen asked. She was trying desperately to stall for time. Kaoryn tightened her grip on Mike's neck. "Okay okay!" Colleen shouted. "I'll tell you where the Key is. Just don't hurt him." Colleen had absolutely no idea what to say. She knew that if she didn't say anything soon that Kaoryn would kill Mike.

Suddenly, Kaoryn was separated from Mike and thrown to the ground. Holly, in her demon form, was on her and punching her for all she was worth. She reached into her pants and pulled off her stake. Kaoryn's eyes went wide and she managed to kick Holly off of her. Kaoryn stood up and didn't like her new odds. Without a word she took off. Holly, Colleen, and Mike tried to go after her but they couldn't find her.

"Where did she go?" Colleen asked.

"No time," Holly told Colleen, "Something else is going down."

"What?" Colleen asked.

"Kaoryn was just trying to distract you," Holly explained. "Gunner is going to see an oracle downtown to find out where the Key is."

"Great," Colleen said. "Where at?"

"Dawn and Jordan are searching right now," Holly explained.

"Okay," Colleen said. "Mike, you should-" Colleen stopped mid sentence. She looked around. Mike was gone. She felt her heart skip a beat. It seemed like a century before it started again. Holly and Colleen began to frantically search for Mike while screaming out his name.

So very close to them and yet so far away, Mike was held in Kaoryn's grasp. She had grabbed him while he tried to keep up with Holly and Colleen. She pulled him into the shadows and was now drinking from his neck.

Mike heard Holly and Colleen screaming his name. If he had the strength he would have called out to them. He had always wondered what it would be like to die. He wondered if his life would flash before his eyes. The only thing on Mike's mind was that he had never got a chance to say goodbye to Colleen.

Kaoryn finished feeding off Mike and looked at him in the eyes. Mike's eyes slowly open and shut. He was fading fast.

"Colleen's boyfriend," Kaoryn said to Mike. "I hope you realized the dangers that were involved with falling in love with a slayer."

Kaoryn heard Colleen and Holly and knew they were close. She had to do what she needed to do quickly. Kaoryn made a cut on her wrist with her fingernail and put her bleeding wrist in Mike's mouth.

"There's only one surefire way to kill a slayer," Kaoryn said to Mike. "You have to love her first."

**To Be Continued…**

*****

Author's Note: Like I said, this is going to be a huge milestone. Look for part two soon. And as always, feedback is appreciated.


	7. Love's Requiem Part Two

Disclaimer:        Any character that you've seen on the show is owned by Joss, not me.

Colleen

The new slayer

Jordan

Psychic who receives The Visions

Holly

Half Sellar Demon

Dawn

The Key

Aaron

Currently exploring magicks

*****

            Colleen was panicked. How could she have been so stupid? How could she have left Mike out of her sight? She knew that Kaoryn was right there and she knew that Kaoryn was trying to hurt her. She should have never turned her back on Mike. If anything happened to Mike Colleen didn't know what she would do.

            Holly was panicked. In all her life she had never been more scared then she was in that moment. She had never spoken a word about her feelings to anyone and she had no intention of ever letting anyone know. The only person who had an idea of what Holly felt was her mother, and she had already done everything she would do about Holly's feelings. Holly knew that she wouldn't let anything happen to Mike, and if something ever did happen to Mike she would make whoever hurt him pay.

            The two heroines searched the residential street they were on. Mike had only been gone for at most a minute and he couldn't be that far away. The problem was that most likely he had been grabbed by a vampire. A minute is all a vampire needs. As the seconds ticked on and on Colleen and Holly bother became more and more worried. The only difference between the two was Holly hid it a lot more than Colleen.

            Holly ran in between two houses and that's when she felt it. It came over her in a wave. She was suddenly just aware of Mike's presence and shifted into her demon form instantly. She looked around the corner of the house on saw two forms in the shadows.

            "Colleen!" Holly after she had pulled Kaoryn away from Mike, "Colleen over here!" Holly began to fight Kaoryn with every ounce of fury in her being. Every punch and every kick cried out with the pain that had suddenly overcome her heart. She picked Kaoryn up off of the ground to begin hitting her again but Colleen came from around the corner and dropkicked Kaoryn to the ground. Colleen was immediately on top of her delivering blows to her face.

            Holly turned her attention towards Mike. As she approached him she saw the way that his eyes slowly opened and closed. When she noticed the large wound on his neck she felt a new rush of emotions over taking her. Collapsing to her knees in front of Mike she returned to her human form. She touched the wound on Mike's neck and watched the way that blood seemed to pour from it much too slowly. She looked at Mike's mouth and noticed the small traces of blood on his lips. She gasped, realizing what had happened. She tentatively touched Mike's neck and held her breath, fighting with all the strength in her being to stop the tears from forming. She waited for what seemed like years and she felt it. It was weak but it was there. Mike still had a pulse.

            "Colleen get over here quick," Holly said trying to control the emotion in her voice.

            "Let me just take care of this first," Colleen said as she punched Kaoryn hard in the face again. She reached back for her stake.

            "Colleen you need to get over here," Holly said.

            Something in Holly's voice made Colleen turn around and look over at Mike. As she realized the extent of how badly Mike was hurt Kaoryn pushed Colleen off of her and ran away into the night. Colleen didn't even think of going after her. She slowly hobbled over to Mike and collapsed at his side.

            "Mike," Colleen said, "Mike wake up." Colleen touched Mike's face. She watched the way that his eyes closed and that it didn't even seem like he was breathing. As she continued to speak her voice became more and more desperate. "Mike, Mike! Wake up Mike. Please you have to wake up. Mike, wake up. Wake up."

            "Colleen I need your cell phone," Holly said quietly. Colleen pulled the phone out of her jacket and handed it to Holly. She never took her eyes off Mike. Holly dialed 911. "Yes it's an emergency," Holly said after the operator picked up. "My friend was bit." She paused. "It was dark. I think it was a dog," Holly lied. "We are on Lexington Road. I can't see the house numbers, but it's right after the intersection with Cambridge." Holly paused. "Okay. Please hurry."

            "An ambulance is on the way," Holly told Colleen. "I'm going to go wait by the road for the ambulance." Colleen didn't answer. Holly walked over to the road and then remembered that they still had to stop Gunner. She called Aaron's cell phone. The store was only about a two minute run away from where they were.

            "Aaron," Holly said after Aaron picked up. "Get to the corner of Lexington and Cambridge now." Holly hung up before Aaron had a chance to ask any questions.

            Holly could do nothing now but wait at the corner for either the ambulance or Aaron to arrive. She looked back at Mike. Colleen knelt over him trying to hold him to life. Holly went back to staring at the corner. She didn't know how much time had passed but eventually Aaron came running from the Magic Box.

            "What's going on?" Aaron gasped between breaths.

            "It's Mike," Holly told him. "He's been hurt."

            "What happened?" Aaron asked.

            "Kaoryn," Holly told him. "He's over there with Holly. I'm going to go to try to find Dawn and Jordan. You have to wait here for the ambulance."

            "Is he okay?" Aaron asked.

            Holly paused. "He doesn't look good." Holly handed Aaron Colleen's cell phone and began to walk in the direction of downtown.

            "Wait," Aaron called out to Holly. She stopped in the middle of the road and Aaron jogged over to meet her. "Here," Aaron said handing her his backpack. "I tried to write good notes. I found some stuff about this oracle. The Magic Box has a pretty extensive Hellmouth library. It's a pretty easy ritual to open the portal. You guys should be able to do it with this stuff."

            "Thanks," Holly said as she put the backpack on and then got back to a jog.

            "Call if you need any help," Aaron yelled after Holly. She waved back to him but didn't stop.

            Aaron looked back to where Colleen was looking after Mike. Aaron wanted to tell her that he was here but he didn't want to miss the ambulance if it was as bad as Holly had told him. Aaron was only there for about two minutes before the ambulance got to the corner. Aaron flagged them down.

            "Where is he at?" the taller of the two paramedics asked as both of them got out of the car.

            "Over here," Aaron said as they quickly began to move towards Mike.

            "Did you see where the animal went?" the other paramedic asked.

            "No," Aaron answered quickly. The three of them were quickly by Mike's side.

            "Miss," the first paramedic said to Colleen, "you need to step away from him."

            Colleen stared up at him in confusion.

            "It's okay Colleen," Aaron said as he put a hand on her shoulder. She nodded and stood up next to him. The paramedics quickly began to examine Mike.

            "He's fading," the said as they put him on the stretcher they brought with them. "When need to get him to the hospital fast."

            Colleen, Aaron, and the paramedics with Mike moved towards the ambulance. Colleen began to try to get into the ambulance when Aaron stopped her.

            "Wait," Aaron said to her. "We have a Gunner problem." Colleen looked back to the ambulance with desperation. "I'll make sure he's okay," Aaron told her as he handed her her cell phone. "Call the others and see where they're at."

            "Take care of him," Colleen said to Aaron. "And tell him I love him."

            "I will," Aaron said as he climbed into the back of the ambulance. "Good luck." The paramedics shut the door and Aaron looked back at Colleen. She stood in the same spot until the ambulance was out of sight. Aaron hoped that she would be okay. For the first time Aaron looked at how badly Mike was hurt.

            "Come on Mike," Aaron said quietly, "You have to pull through."

*****

            "That was Colleen," Dawn said as she hung up her phone. "She's on her way."

            "Is Holly with her?" Jordan asked. They were both sitting on the edge of the roof of a building that overlooked the alley where the portal would open.

            Dawn shook her head. "She didn't say," Dawn told him. "She sounded upset. I think something might have happened."

            "What with the vampire that used to be her mother?" Jordan said. "How many ways could that go wrong?"

            "I just wish they would get here," Dawn said. "I don't think we're going to be much of a threat against Gunner if he gets here first."

            "We're about to find out," Jordan said as he noticed the vampires entering the alley.

            "Great," Dawn said. "What should we do?"

            "Just sit and wait," Jordan said. "Hopefully we might be able to figure out how to open the portal."

            Jordan and Dawn peered down at Gunner. They were surprised when they saw that he had another half dozen vampires with him.

            "How come you failed to mention the cadre of vampires?" Dawn asked Jordan.

            "Hey have you ever had a vision?" Jordan asked Dawn. "They're not exactly the most clearly informative way of communication. They kind of flash in and out."

            "Make excuses later," Dawn said. "Listen for now."

            Jordan and Dawn leaned over a little bit to try to hear what was being said. They watched as Gunner said a few words that they couldn't hear and threw a powder into the air. The air began to shimmer and then became translucent. One by one the vampires walked through the portal. Dawn began to climb down the fire escape.

            "What are you doing?" Jordan asked with a quiet urgency.

            "What if Aaron couldn't figure out how to open the portal?" Dawn asked Jordan. "If we just let it close then Gunner is just going to find the Key."

            Jordan debated this for a second. Dawn watched him to see his result for the first second but when he didn't say anything she just kept moving down. Jordan sighed and followed her, hoping that he had made the right decision. They timed their decent so that they didn't hit the ground till the last vampire was entering the portal. When she did go through the portal Dawn and Jordan ran towards the shimmering air. Dawn jumped in first. Jordan didn't hesitate and prayed that they were doing the right thing. After they had disappeared through the portal the translucent area slowly returned to normal.

*****

            Aaron got out of the ambulance and rushed into the hospital with the paramedics. They were joined by other doctors who immediately began to diagnose Mike and told the nurses to get different things that they would need. Aaron had heard some of the things that they were saying on T.V. before but he really wasn't paying attention. He was just trying to make sure that Mike was okay.

            "You have to wait here," a doctor told him as they wheeled Mike through some doors. "You can't go any further."

            "Okay," Aaron said as the doctor disappeared through the doors.

            "Excuse me sir," a nurse said to Aaron. "Are you related to the patient?"

            "No," Aaron said. "I'm just a friend."

            "Do you have his insurance information," the nurse asked.

            "Not in a physical sense," Aaron told the nurse. She didn't look very amused by his comment. "I'm going to go call his dad." Aaron walked over to the pay phone and reached into his pockets. He didn't have any change and he didn't want to go talk to that nurse again. When the Indiana Jones theme song started to play Aaron remembered that he had his cell phone.

            "Not too dumb," Aaron said before he answered his phone. "Hello?"

*****

            Colleen hung up her phone. She couldn't help it. She had to make sure that Mike was okay. She next tried calling Dawn. Dawn's phone didn't even ring. It just went straight to voicemail. Colleen wasn't sure why Dawn would have turned her phone off. Colleen turned into the alley to see Holly reading over Aaron's instructions and holding a jar of some kind of powder.

            "Is this where the portal is?" Colleen asked. Holly nodded and continued to read Aaron's notes. "Where are Jordan and Dawn?" Colleen asked.

            "They aren't here," Holly said.

            "Any sign that Gunner has been here?" Colleen asked. "Any sign of a fight?"

            "Nope," Holly said.

            "Can you open this portal?" Colleen asked.

            "Yes," Holly answered.

            "Then open it," Colleen said. "I'm in the mood to vent some frustrations."

            Holly didn't voice it but she wanted nothing more to vent some frustration too. Holly took a handful of the powder out of the jar and chanted a few phrases in Latin. After she finished she threw the powder into the air which began to shimmer. As the portal reopened Holly repacked the items into Aaron's backpack.

            "So do we just walk through it?" Colleen asked.

            "I guess so," Holly said.

            "Here we go," Colleen said. She walked through the portal and disappeared. Holly took a deep breath before she followed.

*****

            "Mike I wish I knew your dad's cell phone number," Aaron said to Mike. Mike lay on the bed asleep. The doctor's had managed to stabilize him but he had lost a lot of blood. He needed a few more transfusions. Right now he was just resting. Aaron didn't think that he should be alone. Aaron also found it hard to go five minutes without talking.

            "The doctors say you're going to be okay," Aaron told Mike. "They said there was something strange in your blood. They think that it might be some kind of disease or something. I don't know what happened but I'm thinking that Kaoryn might have tried to vamp you." Aaron paused for a moment as he thought about what he had just said.

            "If that's true I think that you'll probably die pretty soon," Aaron said. He tried to talk quietly so his voice wouldn't crack to the emotion. "I've read up on the whole vamping process. The vamp blood is like a poison. It'll infect your body until it kills you, unless you're already dead. Except instead of dying, your soul just enters the ether, and a demon-soul, a daemon, will enter your body."

            Aaron looked at Mike. He saw the slow way that Mike breathed in and out. Aaron hoped for the best but he knew the reality of the situation. "If you become a vampire your soul will basically be in limbo. You're not going to be able to move on until the demon is killed." Aaron looked at the guy who had not been a friend until very recently. "I promise you that I'll let you move on."

            Aaron stayed at Mike's side. He looked from the remote on the table up to the television. He thought about turning it on for a moment but decided against it. He wished he had brought a book and looked around for any magazines that were in the room. Coming up empty handed he decided that he would just keep an eye on the monitors that were keeping Mike alive.

*****

            The realm that Jordan and Dawn had been transported to was nothing more than a cave. Well, at least the only part that they had seen was a cave. The cave should have been pitch black except for some reason the walls illuminated in a soft blue-white light. Jordan and Dawn followed the vampires from far enough behind that they didn't notice them. They walked along the cave until they came to a small pool at the end of the cave.

            "So this is the Oracle?" Gunner said looking down into the pool. "Doesn't look that impressive to me. Ah well, better just do what I came here for." Gunner reached into his pocket and pulled out a small white stone. He dropped the stone into the pool which became the same white color. A ghostly figure of a woman rose from the pool.

            "Do you seek enlightenment?" The Oracle asked Gunner.

            "Why as a matter of fact I do," Gunner replied to the Oracle.

            "Do you have a sacrifice?" The Oracle asked.

            "Theo," Gunner called out to a vampire. Dawn and Jordan watched as a vampire moved from the back of the group to the front. "Do you have the sacrifice?" The vampire named Theo shrugged. "Theo, Theo, Theo," Gunner said. "You need to be more responsible. How are you going to make this up to me?" Gunner asked Theo. He scratched his head thinking of a way. "Oh I know!" Gunner pushed Theo into the pool. Theo's screamed for a few seconds but soon there was no sound to be heard.

            "What would you like to know?" The Oracle asked.

            "Where is the Key?" Gunner asked. His voice sounded as if it was the most important thing in the world.

            The Oracle slowly began to disappear leaving the chamber with one echoing word. "Drink."

            Gunner look satisfied. He got on his hands and knees in front of the pool and looked deep within it. All his months of searching for the Key were about to pay off. He slowly began to lower his head towards the pool.

            "Sorry Gunner," Colleen said as she threw Gunner back towards the back of the chamber. "Three second rule."

            Holly, in her demon form, started to fight two of the other five vampires while Colleen fought Gunner. Jordan and Dawn came out of their hiding spot and took on one vampire. With the close quarters of the chamber the fight was a little difficult. Gunner managed to get closer to the pool again but Jordan spotted him and threw him back with a telekinetic shove.

            "Drink the water!" Jordan shouted to Colleen. "It'll tell you who the Key is."

            Colleen lowered herself towards the pool but Gunner was there again to stop her. They went back to their fight. Dawn breathed a sigh of relief that Gunner didn't learn the truth. The fight continued. Dan and Jordan managed to dust one vamp and Holly took out two. As soon as the fight was starting to look like it was going their way Holly found herself pushed up hard against the wall.

            "I leave you with one simple task Gunner," Kaoryn said to her partner, "And you can't even take care of it."

            The two remaining vampires held Holly in place as Kaoryn managed to grab Colleen from behind. She looked over to where Jordan and Dawn were standing.

            "Make one move and she dies," Kaoryn told them. Dawn and Jordan reluctantly stood still. "Now drink."

            Gunner lowered his face to the pool and it disappeared beneath the waters. Kaoryn grinned. Holly and Colleen struggled against their attackers. Dawn was more terrified then she had ever been in her entire life. No one noticed the way that Jordan concentrated on a stake that was forgotten in the corner. As soon as Gunner lifted his head from the water he looked over at Jordan and Dawn with a confused look. His lips mouthed the word "you" but no sound escaped through his lips. Suddenly, his face shifted into an expression of annoyance.

            "Oh shit," Gunner said as he felt himself turn to dust from the stake that was in his back.

            Jordan's eyes suddenly went wide. He tried to read Gunner's mind but apparently vampires were immune to telepathy. However, his mind was filled with a scream of desperation. The moment that Gunner had looked over at them Dawn's most primal fear had over powered Jordan. Jordan couldn't understand it. How could Dawn be the Key?

            Kaoryn looked around the room confused. She noticed the way that the stake remained to hover in the air and the look of concentration on his face. "Psychic," she said to herself as she pieced it together. Then it dawned on her. "You know!"

            Colleen capitalized on Kaoryn's distraction and freed herself. She fought against the demon who had stolen her mother away while Holly fought back against her two vampires that were holding her. There was a fury in Colleen's fighting that no one had ever seen before. The fury though soon became sloppy and Kaoryn was able to get away. Colleen chased after her. Kaoryn reached into her pocket and pulled out a pinch of the dust and threw it on the wall at the end of the chamber. She disappeared through the wall but it became solid before Colleen could get to it. Colleen looked around for the backpack and unzipped it as quickly as she could. She disappeared through a portal but she would not be in time to stop Kaoryn.

            Holly managed to dust the last of the two vamps and shifted back into her human form. She looked over at Jordan. "You know," she questioned him.

            Jordan slowly shook his head. "You can't read a vampire's mind."

            Dawn had never before felt as much relief as she did in that moment.

            "Then why did Kaoryn think you did?" Holly asked.

            "Maybe she thought that I could read the Oracle," Jordan suggested. "Or maybe she thought that since I was the psychic of the group I would know where the Key was."

            Holly seemed to buy Jordan's answer. Dawn would have accepted any answer.

            Jordan had absolutely no idea what to do.

*****

            Colleen knocked on Mike's hospital room door. Aaron saw her and gave her a smile as he left the room. Mike lay on the bed. He was awake.

            "Can I hug you?" Colleen asked.

            "There are a lot of tubes," Mike said. His voice was so unemotional. It was the first time that Mike had sounded like this.

            "Are you okay?" Colleen asked.

            "Yeah," Mike said. There was a silence. Colleen began to walk towards Mike. "Wait," Mike told her. "Stop." There was a pause that pulled on Colleen's heart. Mike sighed. "I need some time. I need some time apart."

            Colleen couldn't speak. She couldn't think. She had been having doubts about her relationship but she never thought about breaking up. "I'm sorry," Colleen offered.

            "I knew the risks that being close to you ran," Mike told Colleen. Colleen wanted to cry from the way that Mike used the past tense.

            "I love you," Colleen offered. She said it, and she meant it, and in her mind she believed it.

            "I know you do," Mike told her. He turned away from her.

            Colleen left the room. She saw Aaron in the lobby. She walked towards him slowly as the world spun out of control. Aaron saw the emotion in her face and stood up and met her against the wall of the lobby. Colleen hugged Aaron and for the first time since she had become the Slayer Colleen really cried. It was different then the few tears that she shed over her mother. Colleen let out all the emotion that had built up over the last few months out on Aaron's shoulder.

            Aaron didn't offer a smart aleck response or a snide comment. He held his friend and told her that everything was going to be okay.

*****

            Kaoryn returned to the lair of her master. She saw her sitting on her expensive red couch. She walked up to her and kneeled in front of her.

            "I think that I have found a new lead on where to find your Key," Kaoryn told the woman in front of her.

            "Fabulous," Glory said with a smirk.

* * *

Author's Note: Wow, what an ending huh? Don't worry, I'll explain everything, including why Glory hasn't just told Kaoryn that Dawn is the Key. Everything is going to be revealed in time. In the mean time though keep the reviews coming. Maybe I'll get into the double digits. There's a lot of stuff that happened in this chapter that should be commented on. I want to know what you think.


	8. Relief

Disclaimer:        Any character that you've seen on the show is owned by Joss, not me.

Colleen

The new slayer

Jordan

Psychic who receives The Visions

Holly

Half Sellar Demon

Dawn

The Key

Aaron

Currently exploring magicks

*****

            Aaron was bored. He felt like he was out of the loop on something. He looked around at his friends that were sitting at the library table. Next to him was Colleen. He knew exactly why Colleen was depressed. Her boyfriend had almost been killed by the woman who had once been her mother and when she had gone to see if he was okay he had broken up with her. Mike was quickly becoming one of Aaron's good friends and he understood where he was coming from. Mike had almost died and the reason for him being hurt was nothing more than he was close to Colleen. Still, Aaron couldn't help but feel that Mike had been a little too hard on Colleen. The whole situation was just really complicated.

            Dawn was still being distant to Aaron. It wasn't as bad as when Aaron had first asked her out and they were both being distant. They had gotten over it slightly but there was still tension. Aaron had noticed that Dawn was being more distant in general and usually he would have been able to tell what was wrong with Dawn immediately but now he couldn't guess what was up.

            Holly was the most upbeat out of everyone but she was still slightly depressed. Her and Mike had almost been brother and sister so it was understandable that Holly would be upset with Mike's injuries. What no one else other than Holly and Jordan knew was that Holly had very strong feelings towards Mike.

            Jordan looked like he was under a lot of pressure lately. There was something that was bothering him and he hadn't even told Aaron. Every moment of the day Jordan debated what he should do with his information regarding Dawn. He knew that he couldn't just sit there and not say anything. He had to do something but he still didn't know what.

            Mike was absent from study hall. He had yet to come back to school. Aaron and Jordan had visited him a few times but Mike hadn't talked to any of the girls.

            "Let's play the movie game," Aaron suggested. Everyone gave him various forms of no and grunts in response. "Fine," Aaron said. "I'll play by myself." Aaron tried to play by himself but it got boring very fast.

            "Do you want me to do the patrol tonight?" Holly asked Colleen.

            Colleen shook her head. "I'm going. You can come too if you want. There haven't been many vampires lately."

            "Have you seen Kaoryn since the Oracle thing?" Jordan asked Colleen.

            Colleen shook her head. "Not a sign of her."

            Kaoryn had announced that she thought that Jordan knew who the Key was. Jordan had explained that he can't read a vampire's mind so that he couldn't know who the Key was. What no one knew was that Kaoryn was right. Jordan did know exactly who the Key was; he just wasn't sure what he should do about it.

            "How's Mike doing?" Dawn asked Aaron and Jordan. Even though no one suspected it Dawn felt worse than Colleen and Holly about what happened with Mike. In her mind it was all her fault.

            "He's getting better," Aaron told them. "He should be back in school pretty soon."

            No one really said anything after that. The mood was awkward and everyone had their own reasons for the awkwardness but no one had the whole picture. Time passed slowly through study hall. This was a brand new feeling for everyone because before it seemed like study hall would just fly by. With only about five minutes left in the school day everything got a lot more interesting.

            Jordan was the rightful receiver of The Visions. Holly, because of her demon heritage, was somehow able to tune in on a vision when Jordan received it. She got the basic gist of it but she missed out on some of the finer points. This wasn't an issue for this vision though.

            "What's the deal?" Colleen asked Jordan. Everyone had gotten used to the signs that Jordan was having a vision.

            "It was very short," Jordan told them.

            "But why do I get the feeling you're not going to say that it was very sweet?" Aaron asked.

            "Demon," Jordan explained. "Big guy. Like seven foot tall maybe?" Jordan looked over to Holly to see if she could confirm. She shrugged.

            "Height isn't the most pressing issue," Colleen told Jordan. "Now teeth, claws spikes? That's the kind of thing we're looking for."

            "He wasn't really big on spikes or anything," Holly said.

            "No," Jordan pointed out. "He was just a big guy."

            "So that's it?" Aaron asked. "Just a big guy?"

            "Strong big guy," Jordan told them.

            "How could you tell?" Dawn asked.

            "Trust me," Jordan and Holly said in unison.

            "So that doesn't sound so bad," Colleen said. "I just have to kill some big demon guy looking demon."

            "Why is he in Sunnydale?" Aaron asked Jordan and Holly.

            Jordan looked to Holly. She shrugged again. "I don't know," Jordan said. "It was kind of just a vision about the guy."

            "It's the Hellmouth," Dawn pointed out. "It's probably like Demon spring break or something."

            "If the Powers sent us this vision then it's probably serious," Holly pointed out to Colleen.

            "So do you still want to come on patrol?" Colleen asked.

            "Maybe we should do teams?" Holly suggested. "We don't have any idea where this thing is going to be or what it's going to do."

            "I'm in," Aaron said. "Maybe if he really is that powerful I might be able to find a spell or something."

            "I can't," Dawn said. "I have homework. But call me if you need backup."

            "I'll be backup too," Jordan said. "I should probably get caught up on homework too." Jordan hated to lie, but he thought that this might be his best chance to talk to Dawn.

*****

            Colleen walked through the cemeteries on the east side of town by herself. They had decided that it would be better if they split up and Aaron was going with Holly. Colleen was the better fighter, so it made sense that Aaron should go with Holly. It's not like Aaron would be a lot of help in a fight, but he was still nice to have around. Aaron was good at cheering people up, and lately Colleen really needed cheering up.

Colleen was hoping that she would at least come up against some vamps, and she was really hoping that she would find this demon guy. She wanted to get into a fight. Fighting had become such a tension reliever for Colleen in the last 2 years and right now she needed to relieve some tension. Mike had relieved a lot of tension for her and now he was gone.

            Colleen didn't like to think about that. Sure she had thought that maybe things weren't working out between her and Mike the way that they should be she never wanted to break up. She hoped that maybe they could work it out. Of course they were fundamental problems that had a lot to do with the way that Colleen felt inside, but Colleen had hoped that she would be able to get over her doubts.

            "So did you think that you would never see me again?" a familiar voice called out to Colleen from behind her. She turned to see who it was.__

*****

            Holly was in demon form fighting against two vampires. She and Aaron had stopped in an alley when they saw two girls walk in with three guys who definitely looked like they hadn't been alive for the death of disco. They had stopped the vampires from feeding on the girls and bought the girls time to escape but now they had to fight. These weren't fledgling vampires; they had been around for a while. Holly thought that she would easily be able to dust one but she was struggling against the two.

            Meanwhile, Aaron found himself pinned up against a wall by the third vampire. The vampire held him by the throat and as much as Aaron kicked and thrashed he couldn't get free. Holly was so caught up in her fight that she didn't notice how much danger Aaron was in. The vampire smiled realizing he had Aaron beat. He began to bend his mouth towards Aaron's throat. In a moment of desperation Aaron reached into his pocket and grabbed a handful of a powder that was in there. He threw the fire in the vampires face and in his moment of confusion his grip loosened slightly on Aaron and Aaron managed to drop to the ground.

            "Sunt ignitium!" Aaron yelled at the vampire in Latin. Holly had just staked one of the vampires and was turning to help Aaron when she saw the vampire suddenly burst into flames. Both Holly and the last vampire were a little startled by the pyrotechnics. Holly noticed the vampire wasn't paying attention to her and calmly staked him through the back. Holly shifted into her human form and walked over to help Aaron back to his feet.

            "Nice spell," Holly complimented Aaron.

            "Thanks," Aaron said. "I wasn't sure if it would work or not."

            "Lucky for you it did," Holly told him.

            Aaron and Holly walked out of the alley and back onto the street while they made their way to the next cemetery. Those vampires were the first either of them had seen since their encounter with the Oracle. The slow night meant that they had a lot of time in between to talk.

            "So is Mike really going to be okay?" Holly asked Aaron.

            "Yeah," Aaron told Holly. "He's at home now. He's just needs to recover a little more before he can go back to school. The doctors just want him to rest up a little bit more."

            "I mean emotionally," Holly corrected Aaron. "Is he going to be okay?"

            Aaron sighed. "You know how Mike is always smiling and always looks at the world like he's in on some inside joke?"

            "Yeah," Holly said.

            "I think he's on the outside now," Aaron told her.

*****

            Mike lay on his bed. The school work that he was supposed to do before he came back was lying on his nightstand. He had done most of it but he still had a little left before he went back. He had to thank Aaron; he got him really caught up.

            Mike thought about his last conversation he had with Colleen. It was harsh. He knew it was. He felt bad about it. But the fact remains that what Kaoryn had said to him had been true. Mike was hurt because he had allowed himself to get so close to Colleen. He was lucky to be alive. Mike knew that right now he should be dead.

            Of course a lot of this was his fault though. Mike had insisted that he should be a more active member of the group. Colleen had tried to stop him because she didn't want him to get hurt. It turned out that Colleen was right.

            Mike knew that he had made a mistake. Hopefully Colleen would understand that a few mistakes are allowed shortly after a near death experience. After thinking about it since he had left the hospital, Mike had decided then and there that he would call Colleen tomorrow. He was going to fix this thing between them before it got any worse.__

*****

            "Eben," Colleen said, turning to look at the taller boy. "Should have figured that you would be here tonight. You know, figuring how you never call or anything."

            "I just go where The Visions send me," Eben told her.

            "What's so bad about this guy that you would get sent here too?" Colleen asked him.

            "I don't know," Eben told her. "I just got a vision of a demon in Sunnydale so I'm here to help."

            "Our vision wasn't exactly detailed either," Colleen told him.

            "So you're patrolling for him?" Eben asked her.

            "Yeah," Colleen told him.

            "Then let's go," Eben said to her.

            They walked through the cemetery together in silence at first. Colleen was never a huge fan of silence. She wasn't the kind of person that would talk for hours on end but she didn't like being in complete silence. At least, she didn't like being in complete silence with someone who was basically a stranger. She tried to talk to Eben about things like where he was from or if he was in school but Eben didn't exactly give straightforward answers. Colleen tried a different approach to talk to Eben.

            "So how long have you been fighting the good fight?" Colleen asked him.

            "Forever," Eben told her. "I've been training for as far back as I can remember."

            "Wow," Colleen said to him. There was more silence. "How old are you now?"

            "Sixteen," Eben said to her.

            "Me too," Colleen said to him. "But I've only been fighting since I was fourteen."

            "You're a good fighter," Eben told her.

            "As you told me the last time we met," Colleen told him.

            "Sorry," Eben told her. "I don't have much experience with um," Eben searched for the right word.

            "Fighting?" Colleen asked him. "You've been doing it a lot longer than me."

            "I meant talking to girls," Eben told her.

            "Oh," Colleen said, a little embarrassed.

*****

            Dawn sat at her desk doing her homework. She wondered if maybe she had made the right decision by staying home instead of going to help fight. Of course, what good would she do? She could sort of fight but she didn't have any powers. Unless of course she counted the fact that she was the Key.

            Dawn sighed. She was never going to be able to get it out of her mind. As long as she was alive she was going to be the Key. She knew that if something didn't change soon she was going to drive herself insane. She had to get this off her chest soon. She cared too much about her friends to keep lying to them.

            Dawn's thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. "Come in," she called out. The door opened to reveal Jordan in the doorway.

            "What's up?" Dawn asked Jordan.

            "I think I know who the Key is," Jordan told her.

            Dawn felt her heart stop.

*****

            Colleen was in love with Mike. She knew that she loved Mike. She reminded herself that she was in love with Mike. She didn't know why Mike didn't tell her that he loved her when they broke up but she just chalked it up to the ordeal he had just gone through. He had always told Colleen how much he loved her. There's no way that it could have all been fake. Yet Colleen knew that there was a chance. If she had those nagging voices in the back of her head the entire time maybe Mike did too. She just wanted to talk to Mike again. She just wanted him to return her phone calls.

            Colleen sighed.

            "Is everything okay with you?" Eben asked her.

            "Yeah," Colleen said. "Well no. It's nothing. Just boring teenage girl stuff."

            "About a boy?" Eben asked her. "Your boyfriend?"

            Colleen knew that she should say yes. Mike was her boyfriend. Well, not in the technical sense. She should still say yes. "No," she told Eben. Colleen wondered what she was doing. She didn't have time to really ponder this though because the demon that they were looking for suddenly appeared from around a mausoleum.

            "Showtime," Colleen said as she held up the small axe she carried by her side. She rushed up at the demon and began to fight him. It didn't take her long to see why this demon was vision-worthy. He blocked her every attack, knocked the axe out of her hand, and punched her so hard that she went flying back about ten feet.

            Eben took his turn next. He tried to match him in fisticuffs but it wasn't turning out well. Eben did a back flip to get some distance from the demon and blasted fire at the demon's chest. The demon just smiled and came after Eben again. Eben dodged a few more attacks but as the demon was about to make contact with his face Eben teleported behind it. He tried his fire trick again, this time aiming at the demon's back. The demon howled in pain. Eben prepared to attack again but the demon turned around and swatted at him, sending him flying back as well.

            "A regroup would probably be in order," Colleen said to Eben as she stood by his side.

            "Agreed," Eben said, taking Colleen's hand as he stood up. Their hands stayed in contact for a moment longer than was necessary until Eben turned to leave shouting "run!"

*****

            "See," Jordan said. "Doesn't it all make sense now? Holly has to be the Key."

            "You do have a lot of evidence," Dawn said. Jordan had gone off on his theory of why Holly had to be the Key. "It's just that…"

            "What?" Jordan asked Dawn.

            "She just can't be the Key because she's a demon," Dawn told Jordan. "The Key has to be pure. And plus Holly has a family. And a past. A real past. And real memories. And nothing about her is a lie. And it doesn't matter how insecure Holly feels because she's still real. She wasn't created by monks…she had parents and a childhood and she knows who she is."__

            At this point the emotion had begun to show in Dawn's voice. Jordan looked her in the eye. Dawn's eyes showed sadness. The beginnings of tears were showing. But there was something else in her eyes. Something that Jordan took to be relief.

            "And besides," Dawn told Jordan. "Holly can't be the Key because I'm the Key." Dawn paused. Jordan just looked at her. "I'm the Key Jordan."

            Dawn started to cry. Jordan held her as Dawn let all the tears come out. Dawn cried and Jordan just listened as everything she had kept inside for all these months just came pouring out. Jordan just held her and told her that everything would be okay. Dawn finished telling her story and then just continued to cry. Dawn was just relieved to finally let someone know.

            Dawn suddenly pulled away from Jordan. "You already knew!"

            Jordan just gave her a sideways smile. Dawn smacked him on the arm.

            "You tricked me!" Dawn said to her. "You never thought Holly was the Key. You read my mind or something and you already knew!"

            "I didn't mean to read your mind," Jordan told her. "It was when Gunner found out. You just thought about it too hard."

            "I can't believe you tricked me," Dawn said. She couldn't really be mad though. There were more emotions that took precedence over anger.__

            "I thought it would be better if you told me instead of me confronting you about it," Jordan told her.

            Dawn stood up. She walked over to her desk and looked at herself in the mirror. She looked down at the picture she had given Buffy for her birthday. It showed Dawn and Buffy at the beach, a trip that had never really happened.

            "I'm not real Jordan," Dawn said as tears came down her face.

             "You look pretty real from where I'm sitting," Jordan told her.

            Dawn smiled a little but the tears kept coming. She composed herself and wiped the tears away. "So what happens now?" Dawn asked Jordan.

*****

            Colleen and Eben ran into a cave. The demon followed them. They ran through the cave till they got to a cliff. Past the cliff was a twenty foot drop that ended with some rather sharp looking stalagmites.

            "Now what do we do?" Colleen asked Eben. They turned around when they felt the vibrations rock the cave. Colleen was knocked into Eben's arms. She looked at his eyes for a moment and then towards the source of the vibrations. The demon stood there. He had caused an avalanche trapping them in the cave.

            "Now we fight," Eben said as he helped Colleen regain her balance. Eben immediately ran towards the demon, Colleen just behind him. They both tried attacking the demon from different angles but it was no good. Colleen managed to get a hard kick to the demons back and it seemed to affect him more than any of the other attacks.

            Eben had a plan. He turned to share it with Colleen but the demon punched him in the side of his face and Eben was immediately against the wall of the cave. Colleen fought the demon for a little bit longer but she was soon hit and slid across the cave, stopping only a few inches in front of the cliff. She got back to her feet and the demon came charging at her.

            "Jump!" Eben called to her. Colleen didn't know what was going on but she jumped and Eben telekinetically lifted her high into the air. The demon barely managed to stop himself and in order to balance himself he spun around so that his back was facing the edge. Colleen landed in front of him while he was still trying to regain his balance. She knew what Eben had been planning. She delivered a hard roundhouse kick to the demon's chest. The demon fell backwards. Colleen was joined by Eben and they both looked over the cliff at the demon that was impaled by the stalagmite.

            "He looks pretty dead," Colleen said to Eben.

            "Good work," Eben complimented Colleen. "With the kick."

            "Thanks," Colleen said. She noticed that Eben's shirt was ripped and that he was bleeding from his shoulder. "You're hurt."

            Eben looked over his shoulder and saw the cut. "It's not that bad."

            "Let me look at it," Colleen said. She stood behind Eben and lifted up his shirt so she could see his shoulder. It wasn't a deep wound.

            "I heel fast," Eben told her. "Don't worry about me."

            Colleen looked at Jordan's other shoulder. There were five Japanese symbols in a column.

            "Tattoos?" Colleen asked him.

            "Reminders," Eben answered her. His shirt was off. He turned to face Colleen.

            Colleen had been attracted to Eben before. Now it was bordering on more than attraction. Now it was a physical want. Eben stood before her without his shirt on and Colleen looked at his muscular chest. Her eyes moved up until they met his. Neither of them spoke.

            Colleen didn't know who initialized the kiss. She didn't know if it was her or him or both of them or if it was just the closeness of the situation. Honestly though, she didn't care. She needed this. She needed to feel Eben against her. She needed to know the touch of his skin against hers. The void that she had tried so hard to ignore was now overwhelming her. She needed relief.

            As Colleen and Eben moved against the wall of the cave and then to the floor everything became more and more intense. As Eben began to lift off Colleen's shirt she didn't try to stop her. And the thing that bothered her when she woke up later on that night is that she never thought about Mike.

*****

Author's Note: Colleen, Mike, and Eben. Who do you like and who do you hate? Or do you just hate me? Thanks for reading. Also, I would like to introduce everyone to Kristy. Kristy is my new proofreader and she's helping me to make my stories suck less. Half of your thinks should go to Kristy…well, at least a quarter of them.


	9. Post Coital

Disclaimer:        Any character that you've seen on the show is owned by Joss, not me.

            Colleen The new slayer

            Jordan              Psychic who receives The Visions

            Holly                Half Sellar Demon

            Dawn               The Key

            Aaron               Currently exploring magicks

*****

            Mike had to fight with his dad but it was worth it. Mr. Dalton didn't think that Mike should be driving so soon after his accident. The doctors didn't advise it but they also didn't forbid it. As far as Mike was concerned that was a yes. It wasn't like he had the greatest car in the word. His Camry had seen its better days, but it was normal for Mike. After spending weeks at home and away from his life Mike was ready to get back to what was normal.

            Of course, Mike's life wasn't really the text book definition of normal. It was actually pretty far from normal. Although it didn't have to be that way, Colleen had made it very clear to Mike that it never had to be that way, Mike chose to make it that way. When Mike imagined this new world filled with danger and magic he knew that there was a risk that someone could be hurt. He knew that one of his new friends might get seriously hurt. He never really thought about what would happen if he got hurt.

            So what did happen when Mike got hurt? He completely freaked out. Instead of trying to deal with almost dying Mike decided that he would try to shut life out. Being isolated in his house with only his dad and the occasional visitor helped him to shut everything out. Mike's jock friends had only visited once each at most. It was a nice surprise when Jordan and Aaron visited Mike close to every day. Although at first it was like they were Colleen's friends Mike now considered them to be his friends.

            And then there was Colleen. Mike had really screwed up when he broke up with Colleen at the hospital. It took him a while to realize that but luckily he eventually did. He had called her and she had visited him a couple times while he was stuck in bed. During all of her visits Colleen had seemed somewhat distant and cold. Mike had apologized but for some reason Colleen still didn't seem to want to be close with him. Mike knew that he deserved it. He had been an asshole. He hoped that now that he was back at school that they would be able to work through everything.

            Mike had no clue about any of the changes that were about to take place.

*****

            Colleen sat on her porch and waited. She was biting her nails. She always bit her nails when she was nervous. It used to not be a big deal but now that Colleen actually put time and money into making her nails look nice it was really annoying. Every time that Colleen caught herself biting her nails and removed them from her mouth it wasn't too long afterwards that her nails were back where they started.

            Colleen had reason to be nervous though. She had made a mistake. She had made a huge mistake. She had sex with Eben. While Mike was home recovering from an attack that she was mostly responsible for she had cheated on him. Sure, Mike had broken up with her but he had just gone through a very traumatic experience. He didn't mean it. Colleen knew he didn't mean it. She knew that Mike had just needed time.

            None of that changed the fact that Colleen had given into her impulses. It was over a week since that night and Colleen still hadn't told anyone about it. She hadn't even told Dawn who she considered to be her best friend. What made everything worse was the next day Mike had called to talk. Colleen could have told him what happened right then and there but she didn't. Now every day that went by just made it harder and harder to tell the truth.

            Colleen looked up when she heard a car pull into her driveway. She smiled and waved at Mike as she stood up and grabbed her backpack. As she walked to the car she got ready for another awkward conversation.

*****

            After the new semester started Aaron, Jordan, and Dawn found themselves in Driver's Education instead of gym. Their school had dropped the every other day of gym class for one semester a year. Jordan was glad that Aaron and Dawn were being civil enough for them to all sit together. However, Jordan really needed Aaron to not be there right now. Jordan needed to talk to Dawn.

            Dawn had said that she wanted to wait till everything calmed down with Mike before she told everyone the truth. Today was the official calmed down day. This was the only period that Jordan would get to talk to Dawn by himself. Jordan knew that what he was about to do was completely unethical and fairly rude as well but he knew that it needed to be done. Jordan began to concentrate.

            "I'll be right back," Aaron said to Jordan and Dawn. He walked to the front of the room and asked the teacher if he could use the restroom.

            "So," Jordan said to Dawn. "Are you ready to tell everyone?"

            Dawn looked down nervously but then turned towards Jordan. She made eye contact with him. "Do you think it's a good day? I mean, it's Mike's first day back."

            "I think we need to tell them," Jordan told her. "They deserve to know."

            "I know," Dawn told him. "It's just going to be hard."

            "Aaron works tonight," Jordan reminded Dawn. "We can have a meeting at the Magic Box."

            "Alright," Dawn told Jordan. She took a deep breath. This was going to be very hard for her.

*****

            "So are you getting caught up?" Jordan asked Mike in study hall.

            "Yeah," Mike said. He pointed at Aaron. "Thanks to him I'm actually ahead in most of my classes."

            "It's no big deal," Aaron said. "Your gratitude is thanks enough, but in place of gratitude I also take cash and checks."

            "It sucks that you missed the end of the basketball season," Dawn said to Mike.

            "Yeah," Mike said. "Especially for the team. The J.V. team really sucked without me."

            "And he's so modest too," Aaron laughed.

            Jordan made eye contact with Dawn. She gave him a slight nod. "Aaron you work tonight right?"

            "Yeah," Aaron told him.

            "Are you closing by yourself?" Jordan asked him. Aaron nodded. "Okay then. I think we need to have a meeting tonight at the Magic Box. I might have some new information about the Key."

            "Research?" Holly asked Jordan.

            "Yeah," Jordan told her.

            "What time?" Mike asked Jordan.

            "Whoa," Colleen said to him. "Back up there a second."

            "What?" Mike said. "Just because I miss a few meetings does that mean that I'm out of the club?"

            "If the reason that you missed is because you almost died," Colleen told him.

            "I think that should make my commitment even stronger," Mike told her. "I almost died. Isn't that initiation for this group?"

            Aaron started to laugh by turned it into a cough.

            "Mike you had your fun but now your out," Colleen told him. "You're not getting hurt again."

            "That isn't your decision to make," Mike told her.

            "Yes it is," Colleen told him. Something in her voice gave everyone the feeling that they should probably be somewhere else.

            "I'm going to go find a book for class," Holly said as she stood up.

            "Yeah so am I," Dawn said. "Seeing as this is a library and all."

            "I'll help you with that," Jordan said to Dawn.

            "And I'll help Jordan," Aaron said. "Jordan always needs help with something."

            "So what?" Mike asked Colleen. "I get hurt once and now I'm shut out?"

            "That's the way that it was with me," Colleen said to Mike, speaking a little softly.

            "What's that suppose to mean?" Mike asked her.

            "You shut me out," Colleen told him.

            "You know I'm sorry about that," Mike told her. "You know I love you. I was just going through a hard time."

            "That's why you shouldn't be there tonight," Colleen told him. "You're still going through a hard time."  
  


            "I'm less likely to get out now then ever before," Mike told Colleen. "Whether you like it or not I'm going to be there tonight."

*****

            "So why did we have to walk to the Magic Box together instead of driving over with Jordan and Mike?" Dawn asked Colleen as Colleen, Dawn, and Holly walked to the Magic Box.

            "Because I have to tell you guys something," Colleen said to her friends.

            "So traditionally this would be the part where you would be doing the telling," Holly told Colleen after she paused for a while too long.

            "Okay," Colleen said. "You guys know you're my best friends." Dawn nodded. Holly smiled and tried hard not to blush. No one had ever said that she was their best friend before. "So that means you guys need to be understanding and supportive no matter what right?"

            "Right," Holly said. She paused. "What do you mean no matter what?"

            "Just try not to judge," Colleen said to her friends. They looked at her expectantly. "You remember last week when we were searching for that demon?" The others nodded. "And you remember how I said I got some help from Eben?" They nodded again. Colleen took a deep breath of oxygen.

            "Well," Colleen got ready to tell them. "We were trapped in this cave and we had this kind of intense moment and then one thing led to another and we sort of…"

            "Sort of what?" Dawn asked.

            "Sort of had," Colleen really didn't want to admit this. "Sex."

            "Colleen!" Dawn exclaimed.

            "Oh my God!" Holly exclaimed.

            "I know," Colleen said. "I know."

            "How could you do that to Mike?" Holly asked Colleen.

            "He dumped me," Colleen tried to explain herself. She knew that it really wasn't working. "I know."

            "What did Mike say?" Dawn asked.

            "See for him to say something that would probably mean that I would have had to told him," Colleen told them.

            "You didn't tell him?" Holly sounded shocked.

            "I'm a horrible person," Colleen said. She honestly felt like she was about six inches tall.

            "Well," Dawn tried to find justification for her friend. "You were both going through a lot."

            "You need to talk to him though," Holly told Colleen. "You can work it out but you have to be honest."

            "So am I a turbo-slut or what?" Colleen asked them.

            "No," Holly told her. "You're just…going through a lot."

            They walked together in silence for a little bit. "So what was it like?" Dawn asked.

            "Dawn!" Colleen snapped at her.

            "Oh don't try to take the moral high ground with me," Dawn teased her friend. Dawn was just glad that the night was getting started with people admitting that they were wrong.

*****

            Dawn, Holly, and Colleen entered the store and gave Aaron a wave while he helped a customer. They made their way to a back table and sat down while they waited for the meeting to get started. Dawn tried to make small talk and get her mind off of what she had to do but it was very hard. Aaron finished helping his customer then had to go downstairs in order to restock some supplies. Colleen felt good to finally get the Eben thing off her chest.

            Holly couldn't stop thinking about what had happened. She knew that she was in love with Mike. She had been in love with Mike for almost as long as she could remember. She never really considered them ever having a relationship but it made her happy that Mike was happy with Colleen. Now, after thinking about how Mike would react when he found out what Colleen had done, Holly felt bad for Mike, especially after everything that had happened.

            Jordan and Mike walked into the store. Sometimes, being psychic, it's hard to distinguish between your own thoughts and thoughts that you are just picking up. It's especially hard when more than one person is thinking about the same thing in the same room.

            "Hey Colleen had sex with Eben," Jordan said. He stopped, and thought about what he said. Dawn and Holly stared at him horrified. Colleen's gaze switched from Jordan to Mike. Mike just looked dumbfounded.

            "Or you know," Jordan tried to cover, but his face showed that he was trying to understand this new information. "Just hey."

            "Mike," Colleen began.

            "Who's Eben?" Mike asked simply.

            "Oh you mean tall, dark and demonic?" Aaron asked as he walked up from the basement. "Demon hunter by night, model by day. I thought we already told you about him?" Aaron looked around at the blank stares he was facing. "What did I miss?"

            Colleen looked over at Mike and he didn't make eye contact with her. Instead he walked right out the side door into the alley. Colleen ran off after him as Jordan tried to apologize.

            "Mike wait," Colleen said as she grabbed onto Mike's arm.

            "Let go of me," Mike said and while he fought to get Colleen to let go of him he accidentally pushed her. He pushed her hard enough that she went flying across the alley into a wall. Mike looked over at her in concern and slightly in awe of what had just happened and rushed to see if she was okay.

            "Oh shit," Mike said as he got down in front of Colleen. "Colleen I'm sorry. I just thought that with your strength I had to work hard to get you to let go."

            Colleen looked up at Mike through bleary eyes. She was disoriented but she was very clear about something. She had the familiar tingle she got whenever there was a vampire nearby. It suddenly hit Colleen. She kicked both her feet into Mike's gut and sent him flying into the other wall.

            "What are you doing?" Mike asked her as he stood back up. Suddenly, he realized that hitting the wall really didn't hurt.

            "When did it happen?" Colleen asked Mike. "When did you get vamped?"

            "What are you talking about?" Mike asked. "I'm not a vampire."

            Colleen punched Mike in the face. She punched him hard. Mike looked at her in confusion. She moved to punch him again but this time Mike blocked her attack. Only someone with superior strength would be able to block Colleen's attack.

            Colleen fought back against her emotions enough to get the focus she needed to kick Mike and send him to the back of the alley. Mike hit the ground then looked up at Colleen. He didn't know what was going on. He did realize that he did feel strong. When he woke up this morning he had just felt like he always had, but in the light of the moon he suddenly felt very different.

            "I'm not a vampire Colleen," Mike told her. He looked behind her. "But he is."

            Colleen turned around and was in fact face to face with a vampire. The vampire caught her by surprise and took the advantage in the fight. Mike, seeing that Colleen was in trouble, ran to her side. He didn't really know how to fight, but he knew that he didn't want Colleen to be hurt. He punched the vampire as hard as he could and surprisingly, the vampire was hurt. He hit the vampire in series and soon it was up against the wall. Colleen staked the vampire, and then looked back at Mike.

            "What's going on?" Colleen asked Mike.

*****

            "Does he give you that vampire tingle?" Aaron asked Colleen. He had the table in the back of the Magic Box filled with books trying to figure out what was going on with Mike. Everyone was very curious as to what happened with Mike. It made it less awkward then dealing with the other revelation that had just come out.

            "A little," Colleen told Aaron. "Like, it's a very faint tingle."

            "Are you sure it wasn't just that vampire?" Holly asked.

            Colleen shook her head. "No. There's a definite tingle right now."

            "He has a pulse," Aaron said as he held Mike's wrist. "And he's defiantly alive. And we saw him in the day without him bursting into flame."

            "I'm right here," Mike said. "You don't have to say 'he.'"

            "Sorry," Aaron said. "Anyway, you still have vampire level strength. And you set off Colleen's radar."

            "Could this have something to do with Kaoryn's attack?" Holly asked. "She tried to sire him."

            "If the vampire blood had infected his system to give him the strength it also would have tethered his soul to the ether," Aaron said. "And that would have killed him."

            Mike's face suddenly dawned with realization. He stood up from the table and walked away form the group.

            "Dramatic much?" Dawn asked Mike.

            "My soul," Mike said. "It's mystically bonded to my body."

            "As is pretty much everyone else's," Aaron said. "I mean, I know I don't have to put on a daily dose of soul glue."

            Mike shook his head. "I never believed it." He looked at Holly. "There's something you don't know."

            Holly looked surprised. "What?" she asked.

            "The reason that our parents broke up," Mike told her. "Your mom tried to cast a spell on me. She said that it would mystically bond my soul to my body. I never really believed it or thought about what that meant. My dad freaked out when he found out and that's why they broke up."

            Holly looked shocked. She had never known that before.

            "So when Kaoryn's blood reacted with your system," Colleen began to speculate. "It transformed your body but it couldn't cast out your soul."

            "Without removing your soul a daemon couldn't be put in place," Aaron said.

            "So you're like a living vampire," Dawn told Mike.

            "The spell," Holly realized as she looked over to Mike. "That spell saved your life."

            Mike slowly nodded, letting it all sink in. He sat down at the table. It was a lot to think about.

            "It saved your life and then some," Jordan said.

            "This is really amazing," Aaron said. "I don't think I've ever heard of anything like this before. Have you Dawn?"

            Dawn shook her head. "I've heard of a vampire with a soul but never a living vampire."

            Colleen sat down next to Mike. She tried to slip her hand into his for comfort but he pulled it away. This was something that didn't go unnoticed by the rest of the group.

            "Mike I'm sorry," Colleen tried to say to him. She spoke softly so that only he could hear her. "Just let me try to-"

            "Later," Mike said as he turned away from her. He looked to Jordan, trying to change the subject. "So what were you saying about the Key?"

            Jordan looked over at Dawn. She took a deep breath and stood up slowly. She carefully looked each one of her friends in the eye. She thought about what she was about to say. She thought about all the different ways that they could react. She knew all the different ways that this could go badly, but she knew that they deserved to know.

            "There's something I have to tell you guys," Dawn said.


	10. Understanding

Disclaimer:        Any character that you've seen on the show is owned by Joss, not me.

            Colleen             The new slayer

            Jordan              Psychic who receives The Visions

            Holly                Half Sellar Demon

            Dawn               The Key

            Aaron               Currently exploring magicks

*****

            Colleen and Holly walked through the cemetery together on patrol. The Scooby Gang was in the worst shape that it had ever been in. There were way too many things that were going on at the same time. There were way too many huge events that happened in such a short span of time. The worst thing was that instead of getting closer for support, everyone was spreading out for isolation. Other then in study hall the whole group had yet to meet together since Dawn revealed she was the Key.

            "How's Mike doing?" Holly asked Colleen.

            Colleen gave a sad laugh. "I wouldn't know. We're finished."

            "I'm sorry," Holly told Colleen.

            "So am I," Colleen said to her. "Maybe we'll get back together again. Everything is just really screwed up right now."

            "I wonder how he is dealing with his powers," Holly said.

            "Maybe he should go out on patrol one night," Colleen suggested. "Maybe you could show him the ropes."

            "I could talk to him about it," Holly said.

            "Dawn is still pretty isolatey" Colleen said.

            "I think she's worried that everyone is mad at her," Holly said.

            "Maybe people are," Colleen said.

            Holly was surprised. "You're mad at her?"

            Colleen shook her head a little. "I'm not exactly thrilled about it. I mean, this whole time we were trying to find the Key while not getting killed because the big bad thought that we had the Key. I mean, I'm sorry but I can't help but feel a little bit of resentment."

            "I should have known something was up," Holly said. "I mean, Dawn always seemed like she could relate to me keeping secrets."

            "I understand that she was scared," Colleen said. "And I guess I'm not really mad at her, but still, I wish she would have told us sooner."

            "Sometimes it's hard," Holly said. "To put yourself out there like that. Her whole life is just a universal figment of our imaginations. Her sister sacrificed herself so Dawn could live. It's hard to just come out and say something like that."

            "It almost got Mike killed," Colleen pointed out.

            "Kaoryn would have attacked no matter what," Holly said.

            "Like I said I'm not mad," Colleen said. "I don't hate Dawn. She's one of my best friends. I don't know, I think I just need some more time to adjust to everything."

            "I feel bad for Jordan," Holly said. "I think Kaoryn isn't so much thinking that you know where the Key is as much as she thinks that Jordan knows."

            "We've been lucky," Colleen said. "Kaoryn hasn't shown up for about a month and a half. I wonder where she has been."

*****

            Kaoryn sat in her bedroom in Glory's pocket dimension. The portal that connected the pocket dimension to Earth had been shut for a while now but it would be opening again soon. Kaoryn was grateful because she was starting to get a serious case of cabin fever. Spending a month and a half in a luxurious apartment in a pocket dimension with only a half insane goddess lost its novelty very fast.

            Besides, there were things that Kaoryn had to do back on Earth. It had finally dawned on her that maybe the crazy god could have been wrong when she said that the Slayer had the Key. Maybe Kaoryn would have better luck with the psychic. Plus, Glory's mind seemed to be getting better by the day. She remembered a laptop in her old apartment that had information about the Key on it. Kaoryn now had two options to explore and a way back to Earth that would open in less than twenty four hours.

*****

            Dawn sat on a swing in the park. It was a sunny Saturday afternoon so the park was full of little kids. Dawn smiled as she watched them play and run away from their mothers. She had never come to this park when she was younger because she had never been younger, but she had memories of being here. She remembered being brought here by her mother. She remembered that her favorite times were when her mother had forced Buffy to come along as well. Of course, Dawn had been nine when she had moved to Sunnydale so she outgrew the park phase pretty fast, but she still treasured those few fake memories.

            Dawn let out a sigh as she thought about the recent past. She didn't know what the group thought about her. She hoped that they weren't mad but she knew that what she had done to them had been wrong. She had put them all into danger by keeping secrets from them. She could only hope that if she did have to sacrifice herself that everyone would be able to forgive her.

            Dawn turned her head to the road when she heard a series of beeps. At first she ignored them because she figured that they couldn't possibly be beeping at her, but then she turned over to look. She saw Aaron leaning against the driver's door of a blue Jeep Cherokee.

            "Come on," Aaron said as he got into the door of his new car.

            Dawn ran over to the car and she couldn't help but have a smile on her face. "Aaron this is incredible," Dawn said as she got into the passenger seat. "When did your parents buy this?"

            "It's my birthday present," Aaron told her. "My birthday present for the next thirty years."

            "This is yours?" Dawn asked in amazement. Aaron nodded. "That's awesome."

            Aaron smiled and began to drive. "Xander told me that you were out here. I wanted you to have the first ride."

            The excitement of Aaron's new car soon passed and Dawn was once again upset about her life. "Where are we going?" Dawn asked him.

            "It's a surprise," Aaron said with a smile. They didn't talk in the car. The music coming from Aaron's C.D. player took away the awkwardness from their silence.

            "We're here," Aaron said after they had driven for about twenty minutes. They were on the edge of town. Dawn got out of the car to find that they were at the cliffs. She walked over towards the edge and sat looking down at Sunnydale. Aaron came and took a seat next to her.

            "I figured that everybody was mad at me," Dawn told Aaron.

            "Everybody is kind of taking a little break to get over themselves," Aaron told Dawn.

            "I figured that you would be mad at me," Dawn told Aaron.

            "Why?" Aaron asked.

            "Because I've been such a bitch to you," Dawn told him.

            "You had your reasons," Aaron told her.

            "That's no excuse," Dawn told him. "Aaron, I'm closer to you than anyone else in this world. You mean so much to me. I shouldn't have hurt you like that."

            "I knew the risk I was taking by putting myself out there like that," Aaron told Dawn. "It's not your fault that you don't feel the same way that I do."

            "But I never even gave it a chance in my mind," Dawn told him. "I wasn't fair."

            "Again I must point out that you had your reasons," Aaron said. "This gets to the reason of us coming out here." Dawn looked at Aaron. He met her eyes with his own to make sure that she knew that this was important to him. "Are you okay?"

            Dawn kind of laughed and stared out over the cliff. "For the first time in my life I had friends. I had close, real friends. For the first time ever I honestly felt real. Now it's all gone."

            "It's not gone," Aaron told her.

            "Yes it is," Dawn told him. "I can't really ignore it anymore. I'm not real."

            "That all depends on your definition of real," Aaron told her. He reached out and touched her hand. He pushed her hair back from her face. "This all seems pretty real to me."

            "My whole life has been a lie," Dawn said. "All those memories you have of me before eighth grade? They're all a lie. Everything about me is this huge lie."

            "You're not the one who told the lies," Aaron told her.

            "But I live them," Dawn told Aaron. "And there's so much that I don't know. So many things I don't know about myself. Do I even have a soul? Am I even good?"

            "How can you question whether or not you are good?" Aaron asked Dawn. "Maybe you should ask all those people that you saved."

            "I'm not human," Dawn told Aaron. "I'm just a soulless ball of universe destroying energy."

            "Someone really smart once said 'what you are doesn't dictate who you are.'" Aaron said, quoting Dawn. Dawn just smiled but she didn't respond. She just kept staring out at the city with a sad longing on her face.

            "I'm not going to pretend to understand things like souls," Aaron told Dawn. "Despite what I like to make everyone believe I'm not really all that smart. But maybe, your Key energies or whatever they are, maybe they're not that different from a soul. I don't know what makes up a soul but I do know what a soul can make you do. I know that a soul can make you care, make you laugh, make you love. You do all these things. You eat, you breathe, you go to sleep at night. You come up with ideas and you save people's lives. Maybe your soul is just newer than everyone else's."

            Dawn didn't respond. She quickly turned her head to look Aaron in the eye. He smiled at her and Dawn felt so grateful for everything that he had just told her. In that one moment of looking over at Aaron Dawn's whole outlook of him changed. She knew that whatever it was that Aaron felt for Dawn that she now felt the same exact way.

            "Come on," Aaron said as he took Dawn's hand and helped her stand up. "You can come to work with me." Dawn's hand lingered in Aaron's a little longer then eventually he let go and she followed him to his car.

*****

            Holly and Mike were in the back room of the Magic Box. They had been there for a few hours, ever since Aaron had come into work and Anya had left. Holly had been teaching Mike how to fight. Having super strength wasn't everything; you also had to know how to use it. Mike was learning fast though.

            If you didn't know what was going on and you saw Holly and Mike you would think that they were fighting to the death. However, fighting together was a bonding experience that the two of them had desperately needed. They had once been so close and now they had drifted so far apart. Fighting together, in a twisted way, was letting them catch up on all the bonding that they had missed out on over the years.

            As their fight gained more and more energy they were moving all over the room. As Mike did a back flip to move away from Holly he landed in a large circle of light that was cast from the high windows of the back room. As Holly ran to attack him Mike tried to deliver a hard kick to her face but making contact only sent Mike falling backwards.

            "Mike," Holly helped him up, shifting into her human form. "Are you okay?"

            "Yeah," Mike said as he stood up. He felt like a moron.

            "What happened?" Holly asked him. "It was like you didn't have any strength at all."

            "I didn't," Mike told her. "When I'm in the daylight it's like I'm just a normal human being."

            "That makes sense," Holly said after she thought about it, "Since you're powers come from the same place as vampires' powers come from."

            Mike walked over to the bench on the other side of the room and sat down, taking a sip from his water bottle. Holly joined him and took a sip from her own bottle.

            "I missed you," Mike told Holly. "I mean, before we became friends again, I missed you."

            "I missed you too," Holly said quietly.

            "You don't know how many times that I wanted to just go up and talk to you in school or call you or even write you a letter," Mike told her.

            "Why didn't you?" Holly asked him.

            "Why didn't you?" Mike asked her back.

            "Because you're Mike Dalton," Holly explained to him. "You're the most popular kid in the school. I didn't have nearly enough popularity points to talk to you. I'm just a loser."

            "You're not a loser," Mike told her. "You're far from a loser."

            Holly smiled.

*****

            Jordan had a premonition. It wasn't a vision or any clear-cut psychic anything, but he just had a feeling. That's why he walked from his house towards the Magic Box. That's also why he didn't go his usual route. Instead, he walked in a way that he knew that he would intercept Colleen if she was going towards the same destination. Sure enough, he wasn't surprised when he saw Colleen rounding a corner in front of him.

            "Hey," Jordan called out to Colleen, getting her attention. Colleen looked a little surprised.

            "Hey," Colleen said as she walked up to Jordan. "What are you doing?"

            "Going for a walk," Jordan told her. "I thought I would go visit Aaron at work. What are you doing?"

            "Pretty much the same," Colleen told him as they began to walk down the street towards the Magic Box."

            "Does this have anything to do with Holly training Mike today?" Jordan asked Colleen.

            "I'm that transparent, aren't I?" Colleen asked Jordan.

            "Pretty much," Jordan told her as they walked into the Magic Box. Jordan and Colleen walked into the front door just as Holly and Mike walked in from the training room. Dawn sat at the table in the back while Aaron stood behind the counter.

            "Were we supposed to be having a meeting?" Holly asked as she saw Jordan and Colleen.

            "We were just out for a walk," Colleen told Holly. "How did training go?"

            "Good," Mike said tersely, sitting down at the table. Colleen figured that Mike wouldn't really be in the mood to talk about them today.

            "I like it when you guys are all here," Aaron told his friends, "It makes work seem so much less like work."

            "It's good that you are all here," everyone was looking over at Jordan, who wasn't talking like Jordan. Mike and Holly had never seen this before, but Aaron, Dawn and Colleen knew what it was. The Powers That Be were making contact with them directly.

            "What's going on?" Mike asked Jordan. He looked around and saw that the only person that was confused was Holly.

            "It's The Powers That Be," Dawn explained. "They're making contact with us directly."

            "Which means that something's up," Colleen said. Colleen, Aaron, and Holly came to sit at the table and waited for The Powers to explain what they wanted to tell them.

            "Now that you know the identity of the Key there is information that we have to share with you," The Powers began. "It's time that you learned the truth about the threat that you are facing."

            "Kaoryn?" Colleen asked.

            "Kaoryn's master," The Powers told Colleen. "Glorificus."

            "It can't be," Dawn said slowly. "I mean, they found Ben's body. He was dead! She's dead!" Dawn's voice rose with her panic. No one knew what was going on.

            "Glorificus's host in this dimension was destroyed," The Powers explained to Dawn, "But she has found refuge in a pocket dimension."

            "Who is Glorificus?" Colleen asked.

            "Glory," Dawn said. Everyone remembered the Beast from Dawn's revelation about being the Key.

            "So she's in a pocket dimension?" Aaron asked. "Like that Oracle dimension."

            "Glory is tied to the powers of The Key," The Powers explained. "When her host was destroyed she was lost between dimensions. She was able to create a small pocket dimension to survive in."

            "So this is my fault," Dawn said.

            "No it's not," Aaron told her.

            "If Glory is the Big Bad then why doesn't she just tell Kaoryn that Dawn is the Key?" Holly asked.

            "Glorificus's ordeal has caused her to lose mental stability. Her memory of recent events has been stripped from her," The Powers explained. "She has recently remembered a laptop that has important information regarding the Key in her apartment. Kaoryn will be coming to this realm tonight to locate that laptop as well as something else."

            "What?" Colleen asked.

            "Jordan," The Powers said as they left Jordan. Jordan looked confused. "Did I just do that herald thing again?" Jordan asked the others. They nodded.

            "Kaoryn works for Glory," Colleen filled Jordan in. "She's coming tonight to get a laptop and to come after you."

            "Oh," Jordan said.

            "I get it!" Aaron said. Everyone looked at him. "Oh, sorry. I was just thinking about how Kaoryn was so strong. She was feeding off of Glory. I think that if a vampire was drinking the blood of a god that it would make them stronger. I mean, it makes sense."

            "So what's the plan?" Holly asked Colleen.

            "We should do two teams," Colleen told Holly. "One team to go for the laptop and the other team to guard Jordan and Dawn."

            "I guess I'm on guard duty," Aaron said. "What with having to work and everything."

            "So I guess that means that one of you is coming with me and the other one is staying here," Colleen said as she looked at Holly and Mike.

            "I should probably stay here," Holly said. "I have a better chance against Kaoryn then Mike."

            "So I guess I'm with you," Mike said. "I'll go get changed." Mike walked back into the back room.

            "That shouldn't be awkward," Aaron said to Colleen.

            "Shut up Aaron," Colleen said. She turned to Holly. "Can he fight?"

            Holly nodded. "He learns fast."

            "Good," Colleen said. She didn't know whether to be excited or upset that she was going to be alone with Mike tonight. "Dawn, do you know where Glory's apartment is?"

            "Yeah," Dawn said. "I'll give you directions."

*****

            Mike and Colleen walked to Glory's apartment in silence. It was dark so Mike's strength wasn't an issue. Colleen didn't want them to be fighting between themselves when they had to go up against Kaoryn but she had to talk to Mike. She had to try to explain.

            "Mike," Colleen began.

            "Colleen don't do this," Mike told her.

            "I just wanted to make sure that you know that I'm sorry," Colleen told him.

            "What do you want me to say?" Mike asked Colleen. "Don't you want me to tell you everything is forgiven? I can't just do that Colleen. You really hurt me."

            "I know," Colleen told Mike. She stopped walking. "I just want it to stop hurting."

            Mike frowned a little. "That's a little selfish of you." He started to walk again. "Come on we better get moving."

            Colleen wiped the tear of her eye and she hurried to catch up with Mike.

*****

            Kaoryn wandered around the dark, deserted apartment. Glory was mildly insane, but she seemed sure that the laptop was somewhere in this apartment. Eventually, Kaoryn had found it in the master bedroom. Taking the laptop she made her way out of the apartment and down the stairs into the lobby. When she got to the lobby though she was confronted by Colleen and Mike.

            "Give me the laptop," Colleen said to Kaoryn.

            Kaoryn looked over from Colleen to Mike. She was confused. "You're supposed to be a vampire."

            "What can I say," Mike told her. "I don't drink." Colleen and Kaoryn stared at Mike. "You know. Blood? I don't drink blood. It was supposed to be a joke." Colleen and Kaoryn both got expressions of "Ah" on there face. Suddenly though, Colleen and Kaoryn were fighting each other.

            "I thought you would have learned not to bring your boyfriend with you when you're fighting," Kaoryn said to Colleen. Colleen didn't have any witty comments to make in response but she did become a lot more vicious in her attacks. Kaoryn was taken aback by the fury in Colleen's blows. Before she could even attempt to gain an advantage in the attack Colleen was joined by Mike. Kaoryn was shocked by Mike's strength. She was so shocked that it took her a little while to realize that if she didn't get out of the apartment building very soon that she was going to be staked.

            Kaoryn was close to a window. She looked at where she had left the laptop on the floor and then looked at Mike and Colleen standing between her and it. Reluctantly, Kaoryn jumped out of the windows behind her, giving a loud scream of frustration as she left.

            Mike and Colleen looked back at the laptop. Mike walked over and picked it up.

            "Good fight," Colleen said to Mike.

            "Thanks," was Mike's only response. He walked out of the apartment without waiting for Colleen.


	11. Yesterday and Forever Part One

Disclaimer:        Any character that you've seen on the show is owned by Joss, not me.

            Colleen             The new slayer

            Jordan              Psychic who receives The Visions

            Holly                Half Sellar Demon

            Dawn               The Key

            Aaron               Currently exploring magicks

*****

            "I give up," Aaron said. He got up and let Dawn take his seat. "You give it a try."

            "Yeah right," Dawn said as she sat down in front of the lap top. "Like if you can't do it then somehow I'm going to be able to."

            "You're good with computers," Aaron told Dawn as he lay down on his bed.

            "Being able to use Word effectively and being able to search the web are not skills that are going to be extremely pertinent to hacking into this lap top," Dawn told Aaron.

            "Who would have thought that a Hell God who used walking scabs as lackeys would have such an impressive security system on their laptop?" Aaron asked.

            "Apparently not us," Dawn told him. "This is pointless. We're never going to be able to get into these files."

            "So that means that we're going to have to look into some other options," Aaron told Dawn.

            "Well," Dawn said, "there is one, but I only want to use her as a last resort."

            "Who?" Aaron asked.

            "Willow," Dawn told him. "She'll be able to do it. I just don't know if I want her to know about it. There's no way that the adults are going to be exactly thrilled that Glory is after me again. Last time this happened we left town."

            "I know someone," Aaron said. Dawn looked at him expecting an answer. "Jack Coban."

            When you look at Jack Coban you don't exactly think computer genius. You're more likely to think "himbo." Himbo is a term thrown around Sunnydale that usually means a male bimbo. These people usually aren't smart and are more interested in sleeping with the maximum number of people possible. Jack was technically only a half himbo.

            "Do you think he'll do it?" Dawn asked Aaron.

            Aaron shrugged. "It's worth a shot. I'll talk to him tomorrow."

*****

            "Why do I have to sit bitch?" Colleen asked. She thought about what she just said. "Aaron if you would like to keep your limbs in tact then I suggest that you don't answer that question."

            Aaron had started taking the entire gang to school since he got his car. He and Dawn would pick up Jordan, then Colleen, then Holly. Jordan and Colleen usually had to fight about who had to sit in the middle when Holly got in.

            "Is this Mighty Mighty Bosstones?" Jordan asked Aaron.

            "Yeah," Aaron told him.

            "Weren't they cool in like sixth grade?" Jordan asked Aaron. "With that one song?"

            "They were always cool," Aaron told Jordan.

            "That's a matter of opinion," Holly said.

            "When you guys drag all of our asses to school you can pick the music," Aaron told them frustrated.

*****

            During ninth period Aaron ducked out of study hall and went in search of Jack. Dawn thought that she had seen him in the computer lab during this period. Aaron went to the lab first and sure enough Jack was in there. Luckily there was a substitute teacher that day so Aaron could get into the lab with no problem. Jack was working by himself at a table in the back.

            "Hey Jack can I talk to you?" Aaron asked Jack.

            "O'Malley," Jack said as he looked up at Aaron. Aaron and Jack had known each other from Honors classes but we're never really friends. "What's up?"

            "I have a computer problem," Aaron told Jack as he took the laptop out of his backpack.

            Jack opened up the laptop and turned it on. He was immediately faced with the same security that Aaron and Dawn had been faced with. He played around with it for a few seconds seeing how bad the damage was.

            "What's wrong with this?" Jack asked Aaron.

            "My dad had some new security software put in it," Aaron lied. "Then he forgot how to use it."

            Jack continued to type on the computer. Aaron watched as his lip curled at the side. He was puzzled by the computer.

            "I've never seen anything like this," Jack told Aaron. "Where did he get this?"

            Aaron shrugged. "No clue. Do you think you can fix it?"

            "I can fix anything," Jack told Aaron. "It just might take a while."

            Aaron wrote down his cell phone number and gave it to Jack. "Take the laptop with you but call me as soon as you get it fixed. It's really important."

            "Okay," Jack said as he put the piece of paper in his pocket.

            "Thanks," Aaron said as he started to walk out of the computer lab.

            "Don't mention it," Jack said to Aaron. A thought popped into his head and he called out to Aaron as he left. "Maybe you could put in a good word with Dawn Summers for me as a thank you?"

*****

            Colleen, Holly, and Jordan patrolled together. There weren't an oddly large amount of vampires out lately so they large group wasn't really necessary. Colleen thought it was necessary though. Now that she knew that Kaoryn was back and that Jordan was her number one target she had no intention of letting him out of her sight. As they walked Jordan's watch gave a beep.

            "It's been an hour," Jordan said. "Time to say I'm sorry again."

            "Jordan!" Colleen said to her friend. "It's starting to get really old. I know you're sorry, you don't have to keep telling me."

            "It's the only way I can express how truly sorry I am," Jordan said. "I'm really really sorry that I said that in front of Mike."

            "It's not your fault," Colleen told him. "It's a psychic thing. I can't get mad at you. It's my fault, not yours."

            "Has there been any luck with a Colleen and Mike reunification?" Holly asked Colleen.

            Colleen shook her head. "We're kind of in that phase. You know that phase? The 'normally we wouldn't be speaking to each other but we have to because we fight together to save the world' phase."

            "I read about that in Cosmo," Holly said to Colleen. Colleen smiled.

            "So is Mike a part of the group now?" Jordan asked Colleen. "Is he an official Scooby?"

            "That's such a dumb name," Holly said.

            "He meets all the requirements," Colleen said to Jordan. "What with the new super powers and all."

            "So why isn't he here tonight?" Jordan asked.

            "A slayer, a demon, and a psychic," Colleen said. "I think a living vampire would just be over kill."

            "You can never be too safe," Jordan said.

            "What's going on?" Holly asked. "Is this a psychic thing?"

            "Not really," Jordan said. "It's more of a scared to death thing."

            "Same thing if you think about it," Colleen joked.

*****

            Aaron sat in his bedroom studying for his upcoming finals. At least, that's what his parents thought. Of course, Aaron never really needed to study. He was confident that he could go into his finals and ace them all without even cracking a book. That's why instead of reading school books Aaron had his nose buried in magick books. If there was a big battle looming on the horizon then he was going to need some new material.

            "Come in," Aaron said when he heard a knock on the door. He looked up and wasn't surprised to see Dawn standing in his doorway. "What's up? Need some help for your finals?"

            "In a way," Dawn told him.

            "What subject?" Aaron asked.

            "More like in the break kind of way," Dawn told Aaron. "Can we go for a drive?"

            Aaron smiled and reached for his keys on his desk. "You just love my new car."

            Dawn just smiled. If everything was going to be ending soon for her then there were a few loose ends that she needed to straighten out.

*****

            "Something is very wrong about this scenario," Jordan said to Holly as she walked him to his door.

            "What?" Holly asked him.

            "Shouldn't it be the other way around?" Jordan asked her. "Shouldn't the guy walk the girl home?"

            Holly laughed. "Well this is kind of an unconventional relationship. Almost like a mixed marriage thing."

            "We're both part demon," Jordan said to her. "It would never have worked out anyway."

            "Are you telling me you're breaking up with me?" Holly joked around with Jordan.

            "I just can't deal with the fact that you're in love with someone else," Jordan said to her with a smile when he got to his door.

            Holly stared at him with a contorted look on her face. It was a mixture of surprise, embarrassment, and a little bit of anger.

            "You're really abusing this psychic thing lately," Holly said to him. She looked a little uncomfortable.

            "It's really more of a hunch," Jordan said as he walked into his house. "Seize the day Holly, or the night in this case." Jordan shut the door without giving Holly a chance to respond.

            Holly walked down the road towards her house confused. She knew that she could trust Jordan with her secret but it was still embarrassing having him know how she felt about Mike. She would never act on her feelings though. Mike and Colleen loved each other. Even if they were going through a hard time now she still felt that they were in love. They really hadn't been broken up for that long. Besides, Holly had the courage to fight demons on a nightly basis but she didn't think that she had what it takes to come clean about her true feelings.

            Holly walked down the street deep in thought. Maybe if she hadn't been so in thought she would have noticed the large group of demons that had followed her and Jordan to Jordan's house and now watched as Holly walked away. Kaoryn stood at the front of the group and smiled as Holly walked away.

*****

            "So is the night air helping you clear your mind?" Aaron asked as he and Dawn drove through the streets of Sunnydale.

            "Yeah," Dawn said. "Do you remember how I told you that I was sorry for the way I treated you?"

            "Do you remember when I told you that you don't need to be?" Aaron said to Dawn.

            "I need you to know that I'm sorry," Dawn told him. "Because that way I can tell you that I was wrong."

            "Wrong?" Aaron asked Dawn.

            "I lied to you," Dawn told Aaron. "I told you that you were only my best friend." Aaron looked over at Dawn when they got a red light. They made eye contact and Dawn saw the wonder in Aaron's eyes. It was almost like Aaron could hardly believe that what was happening was reality.

            "You're not my best friend," Dawn said to Aaron after they had gone through the intersection. "You're more than that. Everything in my life is so messed up and the only thing that seems to make sense, the only that's right in my life is you. And I was a moron for never realizing it before and I know that I rejected you and I'll understand if you don't feel that way about me anymore."

            "That's impossible," Aaron said staring straight ahead. He turned to look at Dawn. "The way I feel can't change in a couple of months of thinking that you just consider me to be one of the girls."

            Dawn smiled. Aaron took his right hand off the steering wheel and let it slide over to Dawn's hand. Dawn smiled as she felt Aaron grasp her hand. Sometimes it is so easy to overlook the comfort of having your hand in someone else's. Dawn looked down at her hands in Aaron's and wondered why it had taken so long for this to happen. She regretted how much time she had wasted. If there wasn't much time left she was glad that Aaron at least knew the truth.

            The silence and the perfection of the moment were interrupted by the Indiana Jones tone playing from Aaron's cell phone. Aaron had no intention of answering until he remembered that he had given the number to Jack. As soon as he remembered that fact he instantly knew that it had to be Jack. Aaron reluctantly let go of Dawn's hand and answered his phone.

*****

            Jordan sat in his family room alone. His parents had already gone to bed despite it only being 10:00. He didn't mind though. That just means that he gets to enjoy the big television with HBO. He watched an episode of the Sopranos while eating a bowl of popcorn. The phone beside him rang and Jordan picked it up on the first ring.

            "Hello," Jordan said into the phone.

            "Did we have Spanish homework?" Colleen asked him.

            "Page 218 exercises C and D," Jordan told her as he noticed that he was out of Pepsi. He grabbed his glass and walked into the kitchen.

            "Is it easy?" Colleen asked him.

            "Honestly?" Jordan asked Colleen.

            "No," Colleen told him.

            "Yeah it's simple," Jordan said as he realized that he forgot to take the garbage out.

            "How long does it take?" Colleen asked. "Honestly."

            "It'll take about an hour," Jordan told her as he picked up the trash and walked outside with it. "You can copy mine if you want but I don't know if that's a good plan with finals coming up."

            "Yeah I know," Colleen said. "I hope the final in there isn't going to be as horrible as I think it's going to be."

            "You know it's going to be," Jordan told her as he put the trash in the trashcan.

            "Maybe I should just be the Slayer fulltime?" Colleen asked Jordan.

            "That might be a good idea," Jordan said as he saw the vampires blocking him from getting back into his house. He turned around and saw that there were more vampires behind him. "That might be a good idea right about now."

            "Jordan what's going on?" Colleen asked him.

            "Kaoryn," Jordan said. The line went dead after Kaoryn punched Jordan, knocking him to the ground.

*****

            Aaron pulled up to Jack's house and turned the car off. Dawn started to take her seatbelt off.

            "No wait," Aaron said to Dawn, remembering what Jack had said earlier. "Wait here. I'll be right back."

            "Um," Dawn said confused. "Okay."

            Aaron walked up to Jack's door and knocked. Jack was there in a few seconds. He let Aaron inside.

            "That was some heavy encryption," Jack told Aaron as he handed him the laptop. "I got through it though. Does you dad work at that magic shop too?"

            "No," Aaron said. "It must just be stuff that I left on there. Thanks again Jack."

            Jack turned to shut the door behind Aaron and saw Dawn standing by the car. "Hey, is this my payment?"

            "Goodnight Jack," Aaron said as he shut the door. Aaron walked over and met Dawn by the side of the car.

            "Did he unlock it?" Dawn asked him.

            "Yeah," Aaron said. He reached past Dawn and grabbed the handle of the door to let her in. While leaning over his face was right next to Dawn's. For the first time since they had admitted their feelings for each other they were face to face. They kissed for the first time.

            The phone rang loud in Aaron's car.

            "I'm going to smash that thing," Aaron said, angry that the kiss had to end early. He looked at the caller id and saw that it was Colleen. He answered the phone and his mood suddenly changed when he heard the tone of Colleen's voice.

*****

            Jordan lay on his back and looked up at Kaoryn. A little bit of blood came out of his nose.

            "So let's make this easy," Kaoryn said to him. "Just tell me where the Key is and make this night a whole lot easier for both of us."

            "You honestly think that I'm going to do that?" Jordan asked Kaoryn.

            "No Slayer around," Kaoryn said. "No one here to fight for you. I don't think that your psychic powers will save you from all of us."

            "No," Jordan said. "Not all of you." Jordan focused all his energy into throwing a vampire close to Kaoryn at her. Ever since Aaron's spell had cast his spell on Jordan he found his powers at a slightly higher level. Sensing that there was an opening behind him Jordan took off in the moment of confusion that he had caused.

            Jordan knew that he didn't have a chance. The vampires all had supernatural speed. It wouldn't take much for them to catch up to him. Jordan reached out with all his abilities to try to find an escape route. He sprinted between houses and down dark streets. A vampire caught up with him. Jordan shot his hand back and an invisible force sent the vampire flying back.

            Blood had ruined Jordan's shirt. Using his powers like this wasn't exactly causing the blood to stop. Another vampire appeared in front of him. Jordan sent a trash can from in front of a house into the vampire's head. Jordan went between houses again. He was tired. He knew that it was only a matter of time before Kaoryn caught up with him.

            "Colleen!" Jordan shouted as he saw her in the street.

            "What's going on?" Colleen asked him.

            "Kaoryn and a bunch of vamps were waiting for me outside my house," Jordan said between gasps of breath. Three vampires had just appeared on the street.

            "Go," Colleen said. "I'll take care of these guys. Aaron and Dawn are circling around looking for you. Holly should be on her way soon." Colleen didn't wait for Jordan to leave. She immediately intercepted the vampires and began to fight them.

            Jordan didn't look back. He knew Colleen could handle herself so he took off again into the night. He ran and he noticed that the vampires weren't following him anymore. His desperate running for his life slowed down into a very fast jog. Slowly, he came to a stop. He looked around him and didn't see anything moving anywhere around him.

            Jordan took a deep breath and let his being expand. He stretched out with his mind until he felt his friends. Aaron and Dawn were only five blocks away and if he hurried he could intercept them. He started to jog down the sidewalk again. He came to a stop when he saw Kaoryn in front of him, flanked by vampires on either side.

            "I told you your powers wouldn't save you," Kaoryn told Jordan.

            Jordan immediately bolted off to his left, running between houses again. Dawn and Aaron were so close. Jordan just had to get to them. He was only one street away from Aaron and Dawn. He could see the headlights that could only be Aaron's SUV. Suddenly, Jordan stopped in the middle of the street.

            He wouldn't make it in time.

            Even if Jordan got to the others in time the vampires would get there. They would be able to get Aaron and Dawn. Jordan looked behind him and saw the three vampires running towards him. He looked over to the headlights in the distance. Jordan had never seen something so close and so far away at the same time before. If he was going to get captured he couldn't let Kaoryn get Dawn too.

            Jordan turned back to see Kaoryn's fist make contact with his eye. He was out in a second. Kaoryn smiled as one of the other vampires picked him up. Kaoryn held her hand out and a ripple in space appeared before her.

            "No!" Colleen said as she ran towards Jordan. She was getting so close. She watched as the vampires disappeared through the ripple while holding Jordan. Colleen ran faster than she had ever run before in her life. She pushed herself beyond any limit that she previously had. In her mind she imagined the dimension that she was about to enter. She thought about what sensation she would experience as she went through the hole in space.

            Colleen felt the wind pushed by her face as she ran through the air. The portal had closed. They were gone. Colleen let out a scream just as Aaron and Dawn turned onto the street.

*****

            Holly entered the Magic Box at about 11:00. No one said anything about meeting there but Holly had a feeling that's where everyone would be when she went by Jordan's house and saw that his phone was still lying in his yard. She looked at her friends' faces and she knew that they didn't have Jordan. Holly gave them a pleading look with her eyes, begging them to tell them good news.

            "We were too late," Colleen said. "They took Jordan to whatever dimension they go to."

            "Do we have a plan?" Holly asked.

            "Yeah," Colleen said sadly.

            "What is it?" Holly asked. She turned to Aaron. "Can you open a portal?"

            Aaron nodded his hand. The laptop was in front of him giving off a faint blue glow. "Yeah I can do a spell."

            "And the but?" Holly asked.

            "The spell that will open the portal," Aaron told Holly, "It requires the Key."

            Holly looked from Aaron to Dawn. No one said anything.

            Aaron sighed as he shut the laptop. Holly noticed the way that his eyes fought back against tears.

            "There's a chance that doing the spell could undo the spell that binds Dawn to human form," Aaron told Holly. "She could cease to exist."

**To Be Continued**

*****

Author's Note: I just wanted to thank everyone that took the time to review. Kristy said that these last chapters were good but I've had my doubts about them. Keep reviewing.


	12. Yesterday and Forever Part Two

Disclaimer:        Any character that you've seen on the show is owned by Joss, not me.

            Colleen             The new slayer

            Jordan              Psychic who receives The Visions

            Holly                Half Sellar Demon

            Dawn               The Key

            Aaron               Currently exploring magicks

*****

            Mike walked into the Magic Box without saying a word. He looked around at the faces of his friends. Everyone shared the same concerned expression. This whole year had been filled with so much dread and turmoil and it felt as if this night was the crescendo that had been built up for the past eight months.

            "Mike," Holly said as she looked up and saw the living vampire standing in the doorway.

            "Hey," Mike said as he walked to the others. "I came as quick as I could. What's going on?"

            "Kaoryn has Jordan," Colleen explained to her ex-boyfriend. "She took him back to her dimension."

            "What are we going to do?" Mike asked.

            "I'm going to open a portal," Aaron told Mike.

            "Once we're there it will be up to us three to get Jordan back," Holly chimed in.

            "Do we have any specific plan?" Mike asked.

            "Other than kick the crap out of a Hell God, a super vampire, and who knows what else?" Colleen said sarcastically. "We're just going to have to play it by ear."

            Mike looked around. There was something going on that he didn't know about. "What aren't you guys telling me?" Mike asked

            Aaron looked back to Dawn. She looked into his eyes and then looked down to the ground. "In order to open the portal," Aaron explained to Mike, "I'm going to need to tap into the power of The Key."

            "There's a chance that it could go wrong," Colleen told Mike.

            Mike took a second to take that in. "Do we have any other options?"

            "Let Jordan get tortured and eventually killed," Holly told Mike. "And then Glory finds out where the Key is anyway."

            "I mean do we have any other way to get to Jordan?" Mike asked. "There has to be some other way."

            "There isn't," Dawn spoke up for the first time. "We have to do the spell."

            "Dawn…" Aaron tried to talk to his girlfriend who had only been his girlfriend for a few hours now. Still, Aaron had cared for her more than he cared for himself for a long time now.

            "No," Dawn said to Aaron. "This is my call not anyone else's. Get the spell ready."

            "Dawn have you thought about what this means?" Colleen asked her friend.

            "Yes," Dawn said. "More than you know. Start the spell."

*****

            Dawn sat in Anya's office writing a letter. She had to have something to leave behind. Dawn had thought about what this day would be like for a while. Although she knew that she would never be truly ready to go back to being the Key she had prepared herself enough that right now she could pretend to be calm. As she finished the letter to everyone that loved her she wiped a tear out of the corner of her eye.

            Dawn hoped that after whatever happened to her was over she would be able to see Buffy and her mother again. She hoped that somehow, even if she wasn't allowed into Heaven, that she would find someway to talk to them again. She wanted to tell them how much she loved them. How much they mean to her. Buffy had given her life so that the world could go on, but more than that she sacrificed herself so that Dawn wouldn't have to. Now Dawn knew that she would have to do the same.

            "Hey," Aaron said as he entered the office.

            "You're not going to talk me out of this Aaron," Dawn said to Aaron.

            "I realize this," Aaron said to Dawn. "As much as it tears me up inside I realize this." He handed Dawn a glass filled with a slightly bluish liquid. "You need to drink this."

            "What is it?" Dawn asked Aaron.

            "It's kind of a catalyst," Aaron explained to Dawn. "It will get your Key energies going."

            Dawn looked at the strange liquid for a moment and then drank about half the glass in one sip.

            "That's enough," Aaron told her.

            "It tastes like Kool-Aid," Dawn said to Aaron.

            "I added some," Aaron said to her. "So it wouldn't taste too bad."

            Dawn smiled thanks. "Thanks." She looked into his eyes for a little bit and reached for Aaron's hand. "For everything." Dawn stood up and kissed Aaron for the second and possibly last time. As they kissed tears began to fall down Aaron's cheeks. They broke and Dawn looked at Aaron. She smiled for him and wiped away his tears with her fingers. Her own tears somehow managed to stay in her eyes. Without another word Dawn left the office.

            Aaron took a moment to compose himself. He wiped away his tears and then sat at Anya's desk. He looked at the half glass of blue potion. He reached for it and finished the glass. After chanting a few words in Latin he had managed to link his lifeforce with Dawn's. If everything worked the way that Aaron thought it would it meant that Dawn had a better chance of surviving by sharing Aaron's life. Of course, it also meant that if Dawn drained all of Aaron's life that he would be dead as well. They were either both going to live through this or they were both going to die.

*****

            Jordan had didn't remember what happened when he initially woke up. At first he thought that he was dreaming. The shackles on his wrists and ankles didn't make sense in his mind. Being suspended from the ceiling wasn't ranking high in the making sense department either. When Jordan saw Kaoryn standing next to a blonde woman he suddenly remembered what happened.

            "So," the blonde woman who Jordan realized was Glory said to him, "You must be the Slayer's pet psychic."

            Jordan wished that he was brave enough to come up with a witty comment to make. Something about being face to face with a hell god sucked all the bravado out of him.

            "So this is your lucky day," Glory said to Jordan. "This is your one and only chance to just tell me where the Key with and suffer no pain whatsoever."

            Jordan just looked at Glory. Just being in the same room as her scared Jordan more than anything else in his entire life. He gave her a sad smile.

            "Fine," Glory said as she grabbed Jordan's wrist. She broke it with out exerting any real effort. Jordan let out a scream of pain. "Have it your way."

*****

            "Is everybody ready?" Aaron asked as he sat in a circle with his friends. Mike was on his left, Colleen was on his right, Holly across from him, and in the middle was Dawn. There was a large symbol drawn on the floor of the Magic Box and various candles and incense were lit. Everyone gave Aaron a nod telling him that they were ready. At the same time everyone gave Dawn a concerned look. 

            "By the powers of the Key and the ancients that created it I summon the energies that bind together space and dimension," Aaron said. His eyes became pupil-less as he focused mystical energies through his body. "Warp the walls of the dimension and bid us passage."

            Dawn had been breathing heavy. She closed her eyes and her head looked to the ground. Aaron wanted to reach out and comfort her but instead he joined hands with Colleen and Mike as they closed the circle around Dawn.

            "Ancient ones accept the energy we offer you and bid us passage," Aaron called out. The sound of wind and crackling energy filled the room. Aaron had to scream to be heard. A swirling mass of green energy formed above the group. "Accept our offering and let us pass!" As Aaron screamed the room filled with light and when it faded the five of them were gone.

*****

_            I remember being born. Birth is a good analogy for how I came into this world. Although the people who created me did not have had the best intentions in mind when they preformed the spell that created me there was still a residual goodness in the act. They wanted to block off a Hell Dimension with gods who could oppose their power. What they did though was create a focal point for all of the energies that bind all of the dimensions._

_            They had created the Key. The created me._

_            I was the link of every dimension. I was everywhere and nowhere all at once. Although my energies were confined to a definite spot in space my essence was not bound by any such rules. I was free to explore._

_            Created something as powerful as a nexus to all dimensions won't result in a passive form of energy. Something that powerful, something as powerful as me, results in a living form of energy._

_            I was alive. Not alive in the traditional, tangible sense. However, I was more alive than a lot of other people on this Earth. And from the moment I was born there was one over powering feeling inside of me._

_            Curiosity._

*****

            "Dawn!" Aaron said as he shook Dawn by the shoulders. "Dawn wake up!" Dawn lay on the barren ground of the strange dimension they were in. Mike, Holly, and Colleen looked over Aaron's shoulder and stared down at Dawn in concerned. Both of Colleen's hands covered her mouth. Holly couldn't help but allow a few tears to escape her eyes. Mike put a hand on Aaron's shoulder to comfort him.

            "Is she okay?" Holly asked Aaron. Aaron felt for Dawn's pulse and put his hand on her chest and felt her breath. He gave out a sigh of relief.

            "She's here," Aaron said. "Barely though."

            "Can she get us back?" Mike asked Aaron.

            Aaron shook his head. "I don't know. I'll look over her. I can put up a barrier around us while you guys rescue Jordan."

            Everyone looked over into the distance at the expensive looking mansion in the middle of the strange desert that they stood in.

            "Are you going to be okay?" Colleen asked Aaron. Aaron reached into his pocket and threw some dust into the air as he spoke some words in Latin. A small dome appeared around Aaron and Dawn for a moment and then faded until it was invisible. Colleen reached out for the dome and it became visible as she touched it. It felt strong.

            "Get Jordan," Aaron said to the others. They nodded and made their way to the mansion.

*****

            Jordan was still chained to the ceiling. He was bleeding, bruised, and broken. Jordan was able to psychically numb out the pain but that didn't mean that he still couldn't die from his energies. However, despite all the physical torture that he went through he never even let the thought of selling Dawn out enter his mind. If he was going to die then he wasn't going to let Dawn die.

            "I don't understand you hero types," Glory said to Jordan. "What are you getting out of keeping my Key from me? I mean, what are you getting other than a lot of pain?"

            Jordan still had yet to speak other than the occasional scream of pain.

            "Well," Glory said as she dusted her hands off and moved away from Jordan. "As much fun as it has been beating you to within an inch of your life I think it's time that we tried another way of getting you to talk."

            Glory stepped aside and let Kaoryn move towards Jordan. Kaoryn's face shifted from human to vampire.

            "See, as a human you have a soul," Glory said to Jordan. "You have all these stupid morals and such. But, when you become a vampire, you'll lose all that."

            Jordan's eyes grew wide as Kaoryn's mouth moved towards his neck and broke the skin. That's when all Hell broke loose. At that moment Colleen, Mike, and Holly broke into the room as well as several other vampires. Colleen saw Kaoryn biting Jordan and tackled her to the floor. They both were almost immediately up and fighting each other. Mike worked on trying to dust the three other vampires that were in the room while Holly, in her demon form, took on Glory.

            "Nice look," Glory said to Holly. She gave her a backhand to the face that sent Holly through the wall. Glory was on her in an instant. Although she was weakened by dying two years ago she still was incredibly strong and fast. "Can I peel the gold off?"

            Colleen hit Kaoryn had and she was knocked to the floor. She moved over and hit Glory which distracted her from Holly.

            "And who are you?" Kaoryn asked Colleen.

            "Colleen," Colleen introduced herself. "The Vampire Slayer."

            Glory looked a little confused. "Didn't you used to have blonde hair?" Glory asked. Colleen didn't realize that Glory was confusing her with Buffy. Glory punched Colleen hard in the face and Colleen stumbled back a few steps while she recovered. "Not that it matters anyway."

*****

            _There were prophecies that no one ever knew about. I knew about them though. They spoke of the guardian of the Key. The warrior who would protect the Key from the Beast. She would be a Slayer. I didn't find her until she was six years old, living in __Los Angeles__. I watched her and her family and I envied them. I envied the way that they loved each other. I envied the very fact that they were a family._

_            That's when I decided that I would become a part of it. I decided that I would be born into the family and be one of them. I would become a Summers. Although it wasn't real I still lived out a human life. I worked my way into Buffy's world and went through a life that she was never aware of. We grew up together as sisters and she never even knew I existed, although some people were aware of my presence._

_            Everything changed one day though. The monks who looked after my physical being knew that the Beast was coming after me. They sent me to the one person that would take care of me. They sent me to my sister, the Slayer. They used their magicks and my energy to transform my fantasy into a reality. They made my dreams come true._

*****

            Aaron sat by Dawn and stared at her, looking for any sign of change. He looked up and towards the mansion in the distance. There was still no sign of the others. He held Dawn's hand.

            "Come on Dawn," Aaron said to her. "You have to pull through this."

*****

            Mike and Holly fought together against Glory. Mike had managed to stake the other vampires and now it was Colleen, Mike, and Holly against Kaoryn and Glory. Glory pushed Mike and Holly away as if they weren't even there. Still, every time they got knocked down they were right back up again. Jordan still remained chained.

            Kaoryn and Colleen sparred against each other. After all of their fights Colleen had learned Kaoryn's fighting style. She was able to block her attacks blow for blow. Kaoryn knew this and she knew that Colleen now had the advantage. She knew that she had to do something to regain the upper hand.

            "So Colleen," Kaoryn said, "It seems that you finally got better than your mother."

            "How many times do I have to tell you," Colleen said as she gave Kaoryn a hard roundhouse kick that launched her into the wall. "You are not my mother."

            Glory punched Mike hard in his face and he flew back about fifteen feet. She then turned and punched Holly hard in her stomach and she bent over in pain. Glory then elbowed her in the neck and she fell to the ground. She then looked down at Holly and smiled and picked up her foot as she prepared to bring it down on her neck.

            "No!" Mike shouted as jumped on Glory and managed to get a series of hits in on the Hell god. His fury radiated from the fist and Glory was momentarily stunned long enough for Mike to send her to the ground. He reached down and helped Holly up.

            "Are you okay?" Mike asked Holly. He held her hand is his and Holly looked down at it and then at him. She nodded but didn't say anything.

            "Holly switch," Colleen shouted as she did a round off into a kick right to Glory's face as Glory tried to stand up. Holly quickly ran over to Kaoryn and fought her while Mike and Colleen tried to fight Glory.

            Colleen was a better fighter than Holly but she still wasn't tough enough to take out Glory. Mike and Colleen fought hard together but they weren't doing much better than Mike and Holly had done.

            In the meantime Holly fought Kaoryn. Unlike Colleen, Holly didn't have Kaoryn's move memorized. Kaoryn landed several punches to Holly's face and followed it up with a leg sleep that left Holly on the ground. She kicked the gold demon across the room. Kaoryn looked up and saw Jordan, still unable to free himself. She ran over to him and again sunk her teeth into his throat.

            Jordan closed his eyes when he felt the pain in his neck but just as quickly as it started it stopped. He opened his eyes and saw Colleen, standing with a stake in her hand and with a cloud of dust swirling around her. She reached for Jordan's chains and snapped each of them. Her expression was a slight frown.

            "Colleen," Jordan said to her. He didn't know what to say.

            "She can rest now Jordan," Colleen said to her friend. "She can finally rest. Now let's get out of here." Before Colleen could even take a step Glory threw her against the wall. She did the same to Jordan. Mike was also lying on his back and looked to be in a lot of pain. Holly slowly stood up.

            "No one is leaving here until I get my Key," Glory said to them.

*****

            Aaron wasn't even paying attention when Dawn's eyes slowly opened. He didn't realize she was awake till she sat up. She looked over at him with a look of strange wonder on her face.

            "Dawn," Aaron said, elated that she was okay. He noticed the look on her face. "What's wrong?"

            "I remember," Dawn said. She stood up and Aaron stood up at the same time. "I remember all of it."

            "Remember what?" Aaron asked. He was very confused.

            "Everything," Dawn said as she walked over to the edge of the barrier. She touched it and saw the wall form beneath her hand. "I remember being the Key."

            Aaron had no clue what to say. Dawn turned around and smiled at him. She moved closer and kissed him for a moment. She broke away and Aaron noticed the green energy the swirled around them. The energy swirled for a moment and when it was gone so were they.

*****

            "Just tell me where the Key is," Glory said as she punctuated each word with a punch to Colleen's face. Glory dropped Colleen and she fell to the floor. Glory kicked her in the face and Colleen was thrown back. "This is starting to be incredibly boring."

            "I agree," Dawn said as she appeared in the room in a green flash with Aaron at her side, looking very confused. Everyone else looked over to them sharing a similar expression as Aaron.

            "Who are you?" Glory asked Dawn. Dawn just stared and something happened to Glory. It was as if a fog was suddenly lifted from her brain. "The Key." Glory's eyes became wide. Dawn had restored her memory.

            Dawn nodded. Before Glory could react to having her memory back Dawn lifted her hand into the air towards her. Energy began to swirl around Glory.

            "What's happening?" Glory asked.

            "You're alive right now because of me," Dawn said. "You're living off of my energies." The energy swirling around Glory grew and grew until Glory faded away with a scream. "I just cut you off. Think of it as finishing what my sister started." Glory was finally gone.

            Slowly the others all stood up and approached Dawn. Everyone was a little apprehensive about getting close to her from her display of power.

            "What happened?" Colleen asked Dawn.

            "The spell," Dawn explained. "It let me tap into my key side."

            "Are you okay?" Colleen asked her.

            Dawn stood there silent for a moment. She really thought about the question before she answered it. For two and a half years her life didn't make sense. In the last hour everything had pieced itself together. For the first time everything really made sense. All of Dawn's concerns and fears had finally been put to a rest. She looked at her friends and smiled.

            "Yeah," Dawn said to them. "I'm okay." On the other hand the others, specifically Jordan, definitely were less than okay. They needed to get to a hospital.

            "Come on guys," Dawn said. "Let's go home." There was a swirl of green energy and all six of them disappeared back to Earth. As they left, the strange pocket dimension ceased to exist.

*****

Author's Note: So that's the end of season two. Season three is in the planning stages. I don't know when I will be able to get it started though because of midterms. That's also why it took so long to get season two done as well. Anyway, I promise that season three will be the most interesting season to date. Hopefully I will be able to get it started soon. In the meantime please review and/or email me about what you think about the conclusion to Sunnydale: Secrets Better Left Untold. Also any speculation or even what you want to see next season would be appreciated. So make sure you give me some feedback and then read Sunnydale: A Friend Indeed when it comes out.


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